■^^ 


K<^\-!ir  ■■  .':'■ 


^^m: 


HUNTl 

INTH 


THOMAS 


HUNTING  IN  THE 
UPPER  YUKON 


His  Majesty 
The  Osburni  Caribou  Bull 


HUNTING  IN  THE 
UPPER  YUKON 


BY 
THOMAS  MARTINDALE 

AUTHOR  OF  "  SPORT  INDEED,"   "WITH 
GUN  AND  GUIDE,"   ETC. 


PHILADELPHIA 

GEORGE  W.  JACOBS  &  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1913, 

By  George  W.  Jacobs  &  Company 

Published,  October,  191 3 


TO 
THE  MEMBERS  OF 
THE  POOR  RICHARD  CLUB 
OF  PHILADELPHIA 
In  whose  company  I  have  spent  so  many  happy  hours 
amid  such  delightful  associations,  and  especially 
to  those  members  who  conceived  and  so 
generously  arranged  for  my  "Wel- 
come Home  from  the  Yukon" 
dinner,  this  book  is  af- 
fectionately dedi- 
cated. 


2075367 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  How  It  All  Came  About     ....       i 

II     Up  the  Pacific  Coast 30 

III  "Put   Forth    Thy    Hand — Reach   at 

THE  Glorious  Gold" 41 

IV  A   Lost   Moose 69 

V  An  Exciting  Caribou  Hunt     ...     87 

VI     Ursus  Horribilis 94 

VII     A  Peculiar  Stalk no 

VIII     A  Change  of  Base 128 

IX    An  Interesting  Trail 141 

X  The  Effect  of  Age  on  Wild  Animals  151 

XI  Still  Another  Change  of  Base     .      .   159 

XII  "How    Much    Will    You    Bet    That 

You'll  Not  Kill  a  Bear  To-day?"    .    166 

XIII  "It  Never  Rains  But  It  Pours"  .     .175 

XIV  Nazarhat  Glacier 181 

XV     Homeward  Bound 188 

XVI     The  Slims  Glacier 198 

XVII  The  Wonders  of  a  New  Land  .      .     .  208 

XVIII     An   Indian  Village 219 

XIX  The  Return  to  White  Horse  .     .     .  234 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XX  The  Discovery  of  a  New  Territory  .  248 

XXI  Three  Notable  Men 259 

XXII  Three  Notable  Women 279 

XXIII  An   Interesting  Trio 302 

XXIV  An  Accomplished  Mountain  Climber  310 
XXV  The  Moral 315 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

His  Majesty,  the  Osburni  Caribou  Bull    .        Frontispiece 


FACING 
PAGE 


Map  of  Mr.   Martindale's  Route 12 

The  Town  of  White  Horse 44 

Suburb    of    White     Horse 50 

The   Start  from  White   Horse 56 

An  Indian  Grave 62 

Husky  Dogs  on  the  March 72 

Mr.   Martindalc  and  Biliie  the  Wild      ....  84 

Mount    Martindale 98 

Hoisting  the  Ram  to  the  Pack  Horse     ....  106 

Martindale    Glacier 114 

A    Hard    Mountain    to    Climb 130 

Five     Mountain     Ewes 156 

The   Big   Moose   of    Ethel   Creek 162 

Silver  Tip   Grizzly   Killed  by   Mr.   Martindale      .  172 

Shoeing  a  Horse  in  the  Yukon 184 

Loading  the  Boat  to  Cross  the  Lake     ....  196 

White  Mountain  Rams 204 

Starting   on    the    Return   Trip 216 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dickson's  Cabin  Home      ....  236 

Mrs.    Dickson   and   Family 242 

Kibbee's  Indian   Huntress  in    Her  Cabin      .      .      .  262 

Kibbee  and  the  Bear 270 

Mrs.  Harriet  Pullen 294 

The  Husky  Dog 304 


THE  UPPER  YUKON 

CHAPTER  I 

HOW  IT  ALL  CAME  ABOUT 

"The  way  is  long  and  cold  and  lone — 
But  I  go — 
It  leads  where  pines  forever  moan 
Their  weight  of  snow — 
Yet  I  go. 
There  are  voices  in  the  wind  that  call, 
There  are  hands  that  beckon  to  the  plain; 
I  must  journey  where  the  trees  grow  tall, 
And  the  lonely  heron  clamers  in  the  rain." 

— Hamlin  Garland. 

IT  has  been  my  custom  in  recent  years  to 
invite  in  the  fall  many  of  the  big  game 
hunters  living  in  Philadelphia  to  an  evening's 
mutual  "Experience  Meeting"  at  my  home. 

There  each  one  is  expected  to  narrate 
briefly  the  most  exciting  or  the  most  novel  in- 
cidents of  his  latest  hunting  trip. 

When  the  hunting  season  of  1909  was  over 
and  the  participants  in  the  hunting  field  had 


2  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

returned  to  the  city,  there  were  gathered  one 
night  around  the  fire  of  the  open  grate  a  score 
of  hunters,  some  of  them  fresh  from  New 
Brunswick,  others  from  Nova  Scotia,  New- 
foundland, Northern  British  Columbia, 
Northern  Ontario,  the  Province  of  Quebec, 
the  Yukon  Territory,  and  Labrador. 

One  by  one  they  told  the  tales  of  their  ad- 
ventures. Some  of  them  were  out  of  the  ordi- 
nary, yet  not  at  all  startling,  until  the  last 
man  arose.  As  "an  honest  tale  speeds  best 
being  plainly  told,"  he  narrated  in  a  modest 
but  graphic  manner  the  history  of  a  journey 
to  the  Upper  Yukon  and  back  which  he  had 
finished  but  a  few  days  before.  The  descrip- 
tion given  of  the  section  of  country  hunted  in, 
its  wealth  of  wild  animal  life,  its  towering 
mountains  capped  with  snow  or  ice,  its  wide 
river  beds,  its  invigorating  climate,  together 
with  the  fact  that  it  was  practically  an  un- 
known territory,  held  us  spell-bound  until  he 
finished.  Then  came  the  eager  questions  of 
the  guests  as  to  the  distance,  the  privations 
to  be  endured,  the  expense  of  such  a  trip,  and 
the  length  of  time  needed  to  make  it. 

When  it  was  all  over  and  the  men  had  left 
the  house,  I  went  to  bed,  but  I  could  sleep  but 
little  that  night.     The  story  excited  my  imagi- 


HOW  IT  ALL  CAME  ABOUT       3 

nation  to  such  an  extent  that  all  of  the  homely 
remedies  for  insomnia  failed  me  until  near 
morning,  and  then  the  tired  brain  was  heavy 
and  I  fell  asleep. 

From  that  time  on  I  was  determined  that 
sooner  or  later  I  would  make  the  journey  to 
this  "Land  of  Promise" — this  paradise  for  big 
game,  this  country  where  the  days  would  be 
long  and  the  nights  would  be  short.  Two 
hunting  seasons  to  New  Brunswick,  Canada, 
and  to  my  own  camp  in  the  Maine  wilderness, 
had  come  and  gone  before  opportunity  and 
time  favored  the  desire  to  journey  to  the 
North.  Much  planning  was  needed  as  to  the 
outfit  to  start  with;  the  supplies  to  be  taken; 
the  guides  to  be  selected ;  the  number  of  horses 
which  would  be  necessary;  the  rifles  to  be 
used.  All  of  these  details  needed  close  con- 
sideration. 

With  the  kindly  help  and  advice  of  Mr. 
Wilson  Potter — the  modest  young  man  and 
splendid  hunter  whose  story  and  experience  in 
this  country  had  so  entranced  me — all  the  dif- 
ficulties were  cleared  away,  and  on  the  even- 
ing of  August  I,  1912,  accompanied  by  Dr. 
Morris  J.  Lewis,  an  eminent  physician  of 
Philadelphia,  we  left  the  steaming  city  upon 
our  long  journey.     We  were  routed  via  To- 


4  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

ronto,  Canada,  and  through  the  Great  Lakes 
to  Winnipeg,  and  from  there  by  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railroad  to  Vancouver. 

It  seems  that  no  matter  when  I  leave  the 
big  city  upon  my  annual  hunting  trip,  let  the 
month  be  August,  September  or  October,  it 
is  my  fate  to  leave  on  an  extremely  hot  day. 
In  the  season  of  191 2,  the  day  of  departure 
from  the  heated  city  was  no  exception.  It 
was  hot  on  the  street,  and  hot  in  the  sleeping 
car.  Our  first  stop  was  Buffalo,  then  Hamil- 
ton, Toronto,  Port  McNichol  on  the  Georgian 
Bay,  the  "Soo"  Canal,  Port  Arthur,  Vancou- 
ver, Skagway  and  lastly  White  Horse,  where 
we  would  outfit  for  the  hunting  territory,  and 
when  we  left  that  famous  little  town  we  would 
be  in  ''the  land  of  adventure." 

When  we  pulled  out  from  Broad  Street  Sta- 
tion, a  woman,  sitting  in  the  seat  across  the 
aisle  from  us,  had  to  change  to  the  seat  in 
front  of  us  while  her  berth  was  being  made. 
Her  sole  concern  was  how  she  could  best  take 
care  of  a  great  panama  hat  which  was  loaded 
with  a  pinnacle  of  artificial  flowers.  The 
porter  brought  her  the  largest  sized  paper  bag 
that  was  made,  but  alack-a-day,  it  wouldn't 
cover  it,  and  therefore  she  fretted  and  wor- 
ried as  to  how  it  might  look  in  the  morning. 


HOW  IT  ALL  CAME  ABOUT       5 

She  tried  to  hang  it  up  inside  of  the  berth — 
it  was  too  big.  She  feared  to  trust  it  in  the 
upper  berth,  which  was  empty.  The  paper 
bag  was  stiff,  and  as  she  shifted  it  from  one 
position  to  another,  it  was  easy  to  imagine  her 
heart-felt  concern  for  her  treasure.  At  last 
she  got  to  bed  and  how  she  managed  her  pre- 
cious headpiece  could  only  be  guessed  at  by 
the  cracking  of  the  paper  bag  from  time  to 
time  during  the  hot,  humid  hours  of  the  night. 

In  the  early  morning  the  weather  turned 
cold  as  we  were  crossing  the  mountains ;  with 
the  cold  a  dense  fog  set  in,  and  you  know  that 
wouldn't  be  good  for  the  "precious  hat,"  or 
at  any  rate  for  the  portion  that  wasn't  covered. 
When  the  night  had  at  last  dwindled  into 
morning  and  the  morning  into  day,  the 
woman  appeared  returning  from  the  dressing- 
room,  fully  dressed,  long  before  any  other 
woman  was  up.  As  her  fateful  hat  had  pre- 
vented me  from  having  a  restful  sleep,  I,  too, 
had  gotten  up,  and  we  were  thus  the  only  two 
passengers  "up  and  around"  in  the  whole  car. 

Quoth  she  to  me:  "You're  from  Philadel- 
phia, are  you  not?" 

"Yes,  madam,  I  am." 

"I'm  from  New  York — have  always  been 
in  New  York  either  in  the  city  or  the  state. 


6  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

I've  often  thought  of  stopping  off  at  Phila- 
delphia because  I've  been  told  it's  a  nice, 
pretty  little  place,  and  I  do  love  towns  that 
have  lots  of  flowers ;  and  then  I  believe  you 
have  manufacturers  there,  and  they're  so  in- 
teresting— and  the  work-people  are  so  inter- 
esting, there  being  so  many  foreigners  among 
them.  It  makes  the  town  sort  of  cosmopoli- 
tan, as  it  were,  and  that's  always  interesting, 
so  really  I  must  some  time  stop  of?  and  see 
your  little  town.  I  see  you  and  your  com- 
panion have  rifles,  and  I  suppose  you're  going 
hunting.  Oh,  how  I  should  like  to  go  along 
with  you,  as  I  delight  in  adventure,"  etc.,  etc. 

So  she  rattled  on,  and,  like  the  babbling 
brook,  there  was  no  damming  her  up.  She 
was  particularly  savage  against  those  of  her 
sex  who  would  monopolize  the  dressing-room 
of  a  sleeping-car  for  an  hour  at  a  time;  she 
called  such  women  "simple." 

I  asked  her  if  her  hat  had  given  her  much 
trouble  during  the  night,  and  she  admitted 
that  it  had,  that  she  had  worried  about  it  all 
night.  I  told  her  that  if  she  went  with  us 
she'd  have  to  ride  horseback,  and  astride  at 
that,  and  with  her  great  hat  on  her  head,  with 
rifle,  and  a  pair  of  riding  breeches,  she'd 
surely  be  an  "interesting"  sight  to  the  wild 


HOW  IT  ALL  CAME  ABOUT       7 

game,  whose  favorite  haunts  are  on  the  icy 
tops  of  the  high  mountains. 

As  we  were  nearing  the  station  at  Buffalo 
in  the  morning,  the  passengers  generally  were 
astonished  to  see  a  young  woman  standing 
between  the  rails  on  a  railway  track  without 
a  hat,  but  with  her  head  crowned  with  an 
enormous  coiffure  of  red  hair,  while  she  was 
dressed  in  a  very  tight,  black  satin  hobble 
gown — just  that  and  nothing  more.  There  she 
stood,  feeling  apparently  as  proud  as  a  queen 
when  the  train  slowly  passed  her,  for  she 
surely  did  attract  attention,  and  what  pleases 
some  women  more  than  that? 

A  short  distance  further  and  a  large  sign 
on  a  building  which  we  passed  excited  curi- 
osity, as  it  informed  the  public  that  here 
was  *'The  Philadelphia  House  Wrecking 
Company."  What  an  occupation  and  what  a 
name  for  a  business  firm  to  use — "House 
Wreckers"! 

The  porter  now  came  with  his  whisk  to 
brush  us  off.  The  brakeman  called  out  "Buf- 
falo," the  woman  with  the  hat  disappeared 
in  the  crowd,  and  the  first  stage  of  our  jour- 
ney was  over.  Here  we  changed  cars,  and 
when  the  new  train  had  run  but  a  few  miles 
we  crossed  into  Canada.     The  train  stopped 


8  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

to  permit  the  examination  of  the  baggage.  A 
dining-car  porter  came  through  the  cars  ask- 
ing for  the  owner  of  a  locked  satchel.  He 
went  through  the  dining-car  and  the  parlor- 
cars  without  finding  the  owner,  so  the  satchel 
was  left  at  Bridgeport,  the  little  town  where 
customs  are  collected. 

The  train  sped  on  its  way  to  Hamilton.  A 
down-pour  of  rain  visited  the  thirsty  land,  and 
as  we  were  nearing  Hamilton — the  most  beau- 
tifully located  city  in  Canada — the  owner  of 
the  satchel  appeared.  He  had  been  in  a 
smoking-car  at  the  extreme  front  of  the  train 
and  never  gave  a  thought  to  the  customs  offi- 
cials. His  error  would  make  him  lose  per- 
haps a  day  before  he  regained  his  prop- 
erty. 

At  Hamilton  we  were  met  by  some  of  my 
relatives,  and  after  a  brief  wait,  we  sped  on  to 
Toronto — the  metropolis  of  the  Province  of 
Ontario. 

Toronto  is  situated  upon  a  noble  bay  shel- 
tered from  the  winds  of  Lake  Ontario  by  an 
island  some  two  and  a  half  miles  from  the  es- 
planade front.  The  city  has  a  gradual  slope 
from  the  water  of  the  lake  up  to  the  heights 
of  a  suburb  formerly  known  as  Yorkville,  and 
spreads  out  east  and  west  along  the  lake  front, 


HOV/  IT  ALL  CAME  ABOUT       9 

where  the  railroads  and  the  lake  vessels  dis- 
charge and  take  on  their  cargoes  of  merchan- 
dise and  of  humanity.  Toronto,  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  is  a  wonder  among  cities.  The 
population  is  growing  at  the  rate  of  thirty- 
five  thousand  a  year.  Six  thousand  houses 
had  been  erected  within  the  previous  year,  and 
yet  in  a  ride  in  an  auto  in  the  afternoon  of 
one  day,  and  the  forenoon  of  another  day, 
but  three  houses  were  discovered  in  that  whole 
distance,  with  a  sign  "To  Let"  upon  them. 
There  is  such  an  insistent  and  seemingly 
never-ending  demand  for  houses  to  be  rented 
that  the  builders  cannot  catch  up  with  it. 

A  Government  House  is  now  being  erected 
which  is  to  be  the  residence  of  the  Lieutenant 
Governor  of  the  province,  where  the  great 
social  functions  and  others  will  be  held. 
Here  the  state  balls,  receptions,  conferences 
settlements,  concerts,  addresses,  and  other  af- 
fairs of  state  will  make  the  Government 
House  the  center  of  social  attraction  in  the 
Province  of  Ontario. 

Another  notable  building— I  should  say, 
palace — is  undergoing  erection,  which  when 
completed  will  be  one  of  the  sights  of  the 
town,  one  of  the  wonders  of  modern  architec- 
ture and  of  lavish  expenditure  of  money.     It 


10  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

is  for  the  housing  and  entertainment  of  one — 
man,  with  but  one  son  to  enjoy  all  of  its 
grandeur  and  conveniences  upon  the  death  of 
its  founder.  Dame  Rumor  says  it  will  cost 
over  a  million  dollars. 

So  much  can  be  said  of  Toronto,  of  its  rapid 
and  startling  growth,  of  the  prosperity  of  the 
rank  and  file  of  its  citizens,  of  its  great  uni- 
versity with  its  seven  thousand  students,  of  its 
technical  colleges,  its  religious  schools,  its 
hockey,  golf  and  baseball  grounds,  its  social 
clubs,  churches,  cathedrals,  manufactures,  and 
princely  business  establishments,  that  they 
cannot  all  be  chronicled  here,  as  I  must 
hasten  on. 

We  left  Toronto  at  12.45  P.  M.  on  Saturday, 
August  third.  The  train  was  crowded  with 
people,  as  indeed  every  other  train  was  upon 
this  particular  day,  because  the  following 
Monday  was  to  be  a  civic  holiday;  hence  the 
rush  to  get  away  from  the  city  for  a  holiday 
from  Saturday  until  the  following  Tuesday 
morning. 

There  was  to  be  a  regatta  for  canoemen,  but 
where  we  couldn't  find  out.  Canoes  seemed 
to  be  everywhere,  on  baggage  trucks,  in  trains, 
on  the  sidewalks,  and  on  wagons.  To  tell 
where  they  came  from  would  be  a  puzzle,  and 


HOW  IT  ALL  Cx\iME  ABOUT     ii 

it's  to  be  hoped  that  they  were  all  found  by 
their  rightful  owners. 

Our  train  landed  us  at  a  new  port — not 
Newport — but  a  brand  new  port  called  Port 
McNichol,  all  owned  and  built  by  the  Ca- 
nadian Pacific  Railroad.  This  great  trans- 
continental railroad  it  seems  "doeth  all  things 
well."  I  have  traveled  over  its  rails  from 
ocean  to  ocean ;  I  have  hunted  in  many  sec- 
tions within  the  radius  of  its  ramifications, 
and  I  have  always  found  its  employees  to  be 
courteous  to,  and  considerate  of,  its  passengers, 
its  steamships  clean  and  wxU  appointed,  its 
dining-cars  well  served,  and  its  hotels  a  credit 
to  the  Dominion  of  Canada. 

As  illustrating  its  solicitude  for  the  comfort 
and  convenience  of  its  patrons,  let  me  relate  a 
single  incident  that  happened  twenty  years 
ago.  Two  cars  had  been  provided  for  myself 
and  sixteen  other  hunters,  one  to  eat  and  sleep 
in,  and  the  other  to  house  our  hunting  dogs, 
ammunition,  decoys,  trunks,  tents  and  hunting 
paraphernalia  generally.  We  came  to  a  sta- 
tion called  Maple-Creek,  where  a  tribe  of 
Cree  Indians  were  then  scattered  about  for 
miles  in  their  tepees  on  the  prairie.  We  did 
not  know  that  the  settlement  was  in  the  Alkali 
region,  and  that  all  of  the  w^ater  was  almost 


12  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

undrinkable  to  those  unused  to  it.  Here  some 
of  the  men  were  to  leave  for  a  trip  to  a  range 
of  mountains  thirty  miles  away,  to  hunt  cari- 
bou, while  four  or  five  of  the  men  were  to  stay 
near  the  village  to  hunt  wild  geese,  ducks  and 
prairie  chickens. 

My  younger  son  and  the  writer  were  to  be 
among  the  "stay-at-homes."  After  the  cari- 
bou hunters  had  mounted  their  horses  and 
faded  away  in  the  distance,  we  were  surprised 
to  find  that  the  C.  P.  R.  had  detached  a  freight 
engine  from  a  train  at  Crane  Lake,  twenty 
miles  away,  filled  the  tank  of  the  engine  with 
fresh  water,  and  sent  it  to  us.  Half  of  its 
precious  load  of  delicious  water  was  given  to 
us  and  the  other  half  was  needed  to  furnish 
steam  to  take  the  engine  back  to  its  train. 
This  courtesy  was  repeated  twice  during  our 
stay,  and  so  far  as  I  know  this  expensive  kind- 
ness was  done  entirely  without  solicitation  on 
our  part,  and  it  only  goes  to  show  what  a  pa- 
ternal care — if  we  may  use  the  word — the 
company  takes  of  its  patrons. 

Port  McNichol  is  planned  upon  such  a 
scale  as  to  provide  room  and  conveniences  for 
many  years  to  come  for  the  greatest  possible 
increase  in  the  traffic  passing  through  the 
Great  Lakes. 


HOW  IT  ALL  CAME  ABOUT     13 

We  left  our  train  an  hour  late,  and  with  a 
head  wind  and  a  cold  night  we  were  glad  to 
take  the  steamboat  and  be  in  the  shelter  of  a 
warm  stateroom.  Many  of  the  passengers 
were  going  to  the  far  West  from  the  "Old 
Countries"  of  Europe — quite  a  number  being 
from  England.  Their  comments  upon  the 
sights  and  upon  the  fleet  of  passing  vessels  as 
our  good  ship,  the  Assiniboia,  plowed  her 
way  through  the  inland  sea,  were  good  to  hear. 
"Hope,  eternal  hope,"  and  wonder  were  ex- 
pressed upon  their  faces  in  an  unmistakable 
manner.  When  we  came  to  the  famous  "Soo" 
Canal  and  our  boat  entered  it,  the  crowds  on 
the  wharf  who  had  come  to  meet  friends  on 
our  steamer,  or  from  idle  curiosity,  were  of 
prime  interest  to  the  newcomers. 

Behind  us  were  two  tugs,  one  pushing  and 
the  other  towing  a  big  barge  loaded  with  small 
poplar  logs.  This  barge  had  to  be  deftly 
handled  so  as  to  get  it  in  as  close  to  the  north- 
ern side  of  the  canal  as  possible,  and  also  it 
had  to  be  brought  near  to  the  stern  of  our 
steamer  so  that  both  vessels  could  be  locked 
through  at  one  time.  This  situation  retarded 
us  considerably,  so  two  of  the  newcomers 
with  a  little  boy  left  the  steamer  and  walked 
across  the  top  of  the  front  locks.     They  soon 


14  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

were  wandering  afield  and  time  with  them 
flew  happily  on. 

But  now  the  vessel  was  moving — the  locks 
were  open,  and  we  were  fast  leaving  the  en- 
trance to  the  canal  when  the  men  and  boy 
came  hurrying  and  running  back,  gesticulat- 
ing for  the  ship  to  stop.  "Stop! — Stop! 
— Dinna  leave  us,"  shouted  one  of  them,  with 
a  strong  Scottish  accent.  The  captain  rang 
the  bell  for  the  engines  to  stop.  Men  were 
sent  to  fasten  a  hawser  to  an  iron  post  on  the 
side  of  the  canal  where  the  men  had  strayed 
away.  The  vessel  was  warped  slowly  up  to 
the  concrete  walls,  and  the  truants  were  gath- 
ered in.  There  was  much  diversity  of  opinion 
both  among  the  crew  and  among  the  passen- 
gers as  to  what  the  captain  should  have  done, 
the  majority  declaring  he  should  have  left 
them  on  shore.  One  lady  was  asked  by  a  man 
what  sort  of  people  these  men  were  who  had 
delayed  us.  .She  naively  answered,  "I  would 
much  rather  that  you  should  say  it,  and  I  will 
agree  with  you."     And  so  he  said  it  for  her, 

and    "it"    sounded    very   much    like    "d 

fools."  The  captain  could  not  have  been 
blamed  if  he  had  left  them,  but  such  an  act 
would  hardly  have  been  in  harmony  with  the 
way  in  which  the  C.  P.  R.  Company  treats 


HOW  IT  ALL  CAME  ABOUT     15 

its  patrons.  This  company  is  always  most 
courteous  and  considerate,  as  those  who  have 
traveled  over  its  lines  can  vouch. 

No  one  who  has  not  made  the  journey 
through  these  inland  seas — the  Great  Lakes — 
can  have  the  faintest  idea  of  the  number  and 
the  size  of  the  passing  vessels,  every  one  of 
which  seems  to  be  loaded  to  its  limit.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  most  of  the  craft 
navigating  these  northern  waters  are  built  es- 
pecially for  a  particular  class  of  trade,  and 
to  conform  to  the  dimensions  of  the  locks  of 
these  famous  canals,  one  on  the  Canadian  side, 
and  the  other  on  the  American  side. 

When  we  had  passed  through  the  canal  we 
were  then  sailing  on  the  cold  waters  of  Lake 
Superior,  which  contains  the  greatest  volume 
of  fresh  water  of  any  lake  in  the  world.  The 
temperature  changed  to  a  lower  reading  of 
the  thermometer  and  the  passengers  ransacked 
their  trunks  for  woolen  underwear,  heavier 
clothing,  sweaters  and  overcoats.  When  sup- 
per time  arrived  the  weather  glass  was  down 
to  49  degrees — a  big  contrast  to  the  tempera- 
ture of  but  a  day  and  a  half  before  in  Toronto, 
which  was  close  to  90  degrees  in  the  shade. 
Not  many  out  of  our  large  number  of  pas- 
sengers  had  the  courage   and  hardihood   to 


i6  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

walk  the  upper  deck,  and  so  the  cabins  below 
were  crowded  with  those  who  were  compelled 
to  embrace  the  shelter  of  roof  and  heat.  This 
immense  inland  sea  with  its  cold  waters  must 
have  a  far-reaching  effect  on  the  atmospheric 
conditions  of  the  surrounding  country.  The 
following  morning  was  colder  still,  and  as  the 
glass  had  registered  40  degrees  during  the 
night,  almost  every  one  was  anxious  for  a  lit- 
tle more  heat. 

The  passengers  were  much  pained  to  hear 
that  a  baby  had  died  at  about  three  in  the 
morning  and  that  the  mother  was  so  poor  that 
the  only  covering  she  could  give  to  the  little 
corpse  was  a  newspaper.  Sympathetic  women 
soon  remedied  this  impoverished  condition  of 
things,  and  their  kind  ministrations  made  the 
good  woman  realize  that  to  her  the  cruel 
world  was  not  so  bleak  after  all.  It  was  a 
comfort  to  know  that  a  kindly  physician  had 
been  found  among  the  passengers,  and  that  the 
best  help  that  medical  skill  could  give  had 
been  tried  without  avail. 

The  lake  journey  ended  at  Port  Arthur, 
where  we  left  the  steamer  with  much  regret 
and  entered  a  waiting  train  which  would  be 
our  traveling  home  until  we  arrived  at  the 
terminus  of  the  line,  the  city  of  Vancouver. 


HOW  IT  ALL  CAME  ABOUT     17 

Port  Arthur  and  Fort  William  are  less 
than  a  mile  apart,  each  town  being  the  ter- 
minus of  a  railway  connection,  hence  there 
is  much  rivalry  between  them.  As  each  bor- 
ough has  its  own  set  of  officials,  it  must  be 
amusing — if  not  too  dramatic — to  the  citizens 
to  keep  in  touch  with  the  official  doings  and 
methods  of  the  two  municipal  rivals. 

As  our  steamer  had  been  fighting  a  head 
wind  from  the  "Soo"  Canal  all  the  way  to  Port 
Arthur,  we  were  more  than  an  hour  late,  so 
that  when  our  first  important  city — Winnipeg 
— was  reached  we  were  too  late  to  inspect  any 
of  its  wonders.  Twenty  years  before,  in  mak- 
ing this  same  journey  across  the  Continent,  a 
stop  of  three  hours  was  made  at  Winnipeg. 
The  growing  city  then  boasted  a  population 
of  over  thirty  thousand  inhabitants.  The  citi- 
zens were  then  enthusiastic  in  their  predic- 
tions of  a  future  great  and  growing  city,  but 
they  never  dreamed  of  such  a  transformation 
as  has  taken  place  in  the  period  covered  by 
these  two  visits  of  twenty  years  apart.  I  re- 
member then  standing  in  the  main  street, 
which  I  think  is  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet 
wide,  and  watching  long  lines  of  horses  pull- 
ing heavy  wagons  loaded  with  wheat  from  the 
Red  River  territory  of  the  North.     A  man, 


i8  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

who  proved  to  be  a  banker  of  Winnipeg,  was 
standing  near  by,  and  entered  into  conversa- 
tion with  me.  I  confessed  to  a  feeling  of 
enraptured  wonder  at  the  enormous  quantity 
of  wheat  that  was  being  transported  to  the 
elevators,  there  to  be  loaded  into  the  waiting 
railroad  trains  for  transportation  either  to  the 
Atlantic  or  to  the  Pacific,  or  to  local  points. 

"Where  do  you  live?"  said  the  banker. 

"In  Philadelphia." 

"Well,  you  are  now  about  a  thousand  miles 
north  from  Philadelphia.  A  thousand  miles 
Still  farther  north  of  us  is  more  wheat,  and 
better  wheat,  than  that  which  you  see  passing 
to  the  elevators.  In  perhaps  ten  years  from 
now  this  country  north  of  us  will  be  opened  up 
by  railroads  and  other  forms  of  transportation. 
People  will  pour  into  it  from  the  northern 
sections  of  your  country,  immigrants  will  ar- 
rive from  Europe,  Asia,  and  even  Australia 
to  till  this  fertile  and  easily  farmed  land,  and 
then  in  a  few  years  more  a  new  empire  to  the 
north  of  us  will  be  pouring  its  rich  freightage 
of  the  products  of  these  northern  prairies 
into  the  lap  of  the  then  great  city  of  Winni- 
peg." 

At  that  time  his  talk  made  but  a  fleeting  im- 
pression upon  my  mind,  but  can  you  not  see 


HOW  IT  ALL  CAME  ABOUT     19 

how  prophetic  it  was?  Do  you  realize  that, 
in  the  twenty  years  since  then,  the  population 
of  Winnipeg  has  grown  to  nearly  three  hun- 
dred thousand  people?  Do  you  know  that 
another  great  transcontinental  railway,  hav- 
ing a  terminus  on  the  Pacific  Coast  five  hun- 
dred miles  north  of  the  terminus  of  the 
C.  P.  R.,  is  nearly  completed  and  that  it  even 
now  passes  through  Winnipeg?  Do  you 
realize  that  some  day  in  the  near  future— say, 
in  another  score  of  years — Winnipeg  may 
boast  of  a  population  of  a  million?  The  pres- 
ent growth  of  this  wonderful  city  has  meant 
the  erection  of  large  manufacturing  plants,  of 
great  distributing  wholesale  houses,  the  ac- 
cumulation of  rich  banks  and  other  deposi- 
tories for  the  capital  needed  to  finance  the 
movement  of  the  crops,  the  building  of  sub- 
sidiary lines  to  the  trunk  lines  of  rails,  the 
erection  of  schools,  colleges,  churches,  thea- 
ters, skating  rinks,  public  halls,  new  sewage 
disposal  plants,  public  buildings,  etc.,  etc. 
What  the  needs  of  the  next  twenty  years  will 
be,  no  living  man  may  predict.  It  is  a  timely 
thing  to  dwell  for  a  little  upon  the  fairy-like 
story  of  Winnipeg's  growth  in  a  single  score  of 
years,  because  it  is  an  illustration  of  what  sev- 
eral other  Canadian  towns  and  cities  have  ex- 


20  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

perienced  in  the  same  period.  Calgary,  Maple 
Creek,  Moosejaw,  Saskatoon,  Regina,  Revel- 
stoke,  Edmonton  on  the  Saskatchewan,  West- 
minster, and  particularly  Vancouver,  all  have 
been  blessed  with  a  prosperity  beyond  the 
wildest  dreams  of  the  average  citizen  of  twenty 
years  ago.  The  question  may  well  be  asked, 
how  has  it  come  about  that  this  unprecedented 
growth  and  expansion  of  a  new  empire  to  the 
north  of  the  United  States  has  proceeded  along 
a  constant  and  well-developed  line? 

The  answer  is  not  a  difficult  one. 

First,  by  the  cultivation  of  the  ground  by 
the  residents  and  the  ever-incoming  hordes  of 
farmers — men  of  capacity  in  the  tilling  of 
the  extended  fertile  wheat  belts  of  land  that 
were  to  be  had  for  a  price  almost  akin  to  noth- 
ing. Next,  by  the  ease  with  which  capital 
could  be  obtained  from  the  Mother  Country, 
"the  tight  little  island"  called  England,  to 
finance  the  various  enterprises  made  neces- 
sary by  the  ever-increasing  population,  and 
third,  by  the  opening  up  of  new  sections  of 
virgin  land  to  modern  methods  of  scientific 
farming. 

Another  reason  may  be  found  in  the  fact 
that  while  Canada  cannot  boast  of  having 
nearly  as  many  laws  on  her  statute-book  as 


HOW  IT  ALL  CAME  ABOUT     21 

her  great  neighboring  Republic  to  the  south 
of  her,  yet  what  laws  she  has  are  generally 
well  enforced;  so  that,  although  the  immi- 
grants that  have  poured  into  her  domain  are 
made  up  of  Russians,  Poles,  Serbs,  Bulgars, 
Italians,  Chinese,  Japanese,  Laplanders,  Scan- 
dinavians, French,  Spaniards,  Portuguese, 
Germans,  Turks  and  Arabs,  besides  a  host 
from  Ireland,  Wales,  Scotland  and  England 
herself,  they  all  bow  to  the  laws  of  their 
adopted  country. 

Therefore,  as  law  and  order  have  been  uni- 
formly maintained  in  all  of  the  provinces  and 
territories  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  cap- 
ital has  been  safe,  as  well  as  the  lives  and  prop- 
erties of  the  great  public  at  large. 

It  is  a  remarkable  tribute  to  the  efficiency 
and  the  administration  of  the  law  by  the  Ca- 
nadian Judiciary  that  the  Dominion  has  been 
able  to  assimilate  all  of  the  discordant  human 
factors  that  make  up  her  population  and  weld 
them  together  into  one  harmonious  and  indus- 
trious whole. 

There  has  been  nothing  in  the  world's  past 
history  that  has  ever  approached  this  devel- 
opment of  a  new  country-empire  (may  we 
so  call  it?)  in  such  a  short  space  of  time,  and 
that,  too,  without  the  use  of  military  force, 


22  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

war,  or  even  "rumors  of  war."  It  is  true  that 
migrations  have  often  occurred  in  ancient 
times,  but  generally  they  were  caused  by  the 
forceful  ejection  of  tribes,  or  communities  of 
people  who  were  driven  out  from  their  home- 
land, either  because  of  religious  or  racial  con- 
tentions, or  from  some  other  compelling  cause, 
which  made  a  wholesale  evacuation  of  a  large 
population  an  absolute  necessity  for  the  pro- 
tection of  life,  and  the  possible  enjoyment  of 
peace  and  happiness. 

The  migration  into  Canada  has  ever  been 
a  peaceful  one,  and  such  may  it  always  remain 
in  the  future.  It  is  not  hard  to  predict  that 
the  close  intermingling  and  the  intermarriage 
of  a  conglomeration  of  many  foreign  races 
will  result  in  the  creation  of  a  new  type  of 
manhood — a  new  cosmopolite  race,  having  the 
industrious  and  economical  ideals  and  meth- 
ods of  these  various  foreign  races  blended 
with  the  artistic,  law-abiding,  scholastic,  opti- 
mistic, self-reliant,  and  courageous  ideals  of 
the  descendants  of  the  original  English, 
Scotch,  Irish  and  French  settlers  of  Canada. 

From  the  pen  of  the  brilliant  writer,  Agnes 
Dean  Cameron,  comes  this  timely  paragraph : 
"On  the  benches  of  one  schoolroom  in  Ed- 
monton I  found  children  who  had  been  born 


HOW  IT  ALL  CAME  ABOUT    23 

in  Canada,  the  United  States,  England,  Scot- 
land, Russia,  New  Zealand,  Poland,  Switzer- 
land, Australia  and  Austria-Hungary.  They 
were  all  singing  "The  Maple  Leaf  Forever!" 
It  is  the  lessons  these  children  are  to  learn 
in  that  little  red  schoolhouse,  which  will  de- 
termine the  future  of  Canada,  and  not  the 
yearly  take  of  forty-bushel  wheat.  In  the 
past,  nations  out  of  very  fatness  have  decayed. 
Many  signs  here  are  full  of  hope." 

At  Winnipeg,  berths  were  taken  in  sleep- 
ing-cars that  were  to  be  our  traveling  home 
until  we  arrived  at  Vancouver.  The  train 
was  filled  with  just  as  many  (if  not  more) 
different  races  and  conditions  of  people  as  we 
had  met  on  the  steamer,  the  largest  number  of 
any  one  class  being  from  Great  Britain. 

Isn't  it  curious  how  the  average  Englishman 
on  his  travels  will  find  fault  with  everything 
that  is  new  and  strange?  Being  an  English- 
man myself,  I  have  perhaps  noticed  this  pecu- 
liarity more  than  a  born  American  would. 
For  to  them  there  is  nothing  done  anywhere 
"like  it  is  done  in  England,  you  know." 

A  friend  of  mine — also  an  Englishman — 
had  a  friend  who  came  to  Philadelphia  on  a 
visit.  This  man  was  interested  in  the  con- 
struction of  bridges,  so  my  friend,  whose  name 


24  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

was  Knight,  took  the  man  out  in  a  carriage 
and  drove  him  all  around  the  city  and  its  en- 
virons and  allowed  him  to  inspect  every  one 
of  the  numerous  bridges  that  cross  the  Schuyl- 
kill River.  Each  bridge  was  carefully  ex- 
amined, and  at  the  end  of  each  inspection  the 
man  would  praise  it  faintly,  and  then  start  with 
his  "buts."  It  was  not  like  this  or  that  bridge 
in  England,  "you  know."  Finally  the  Girard 
Avenue  bridge,  built  and  opened  about  the 
time  of  the  Centennial  Exhibition  in  1876, 
was  reached.  This  bridge  is  generally  con- 
sidered to  be  a  model  of  architectural  beauty, 
and  as  Dr.  Knight  explained  its  cost,  the  time 
taken  in  its  erection,  and  its  dimensions,  the 
man  was  so  much  impressed  with  it  that  he 
made  a  tour  of  the  upper  and  lower  decks, 
and  also  went  down  to  the  river's  edge  to  look 
it  over  from  water  level.  Then  he  com- 
menced to  praise  it,  but  soon  having  exhausted 
all  the  compliments  that  he  could  find  to  say 
in  its  favor,  he  came  to  the  inevitable  "but." 

Dr.  Knight  at  once  lost  his  temper.  "Oh, 
damn  your  'buts' — what's  the  matter  now?" 

"Don't  be  angry,  doctor,"  the  man  replied. 
"I  was  just  going  to  say  that  the  bridge  is 
creditable  in  every  respect,  but  it  doesn't  have 
as  many  people  crossing  it  as  London  Bridge.'* 


HOW  IT  ALL  CAME  ABOUT     25 

Now  there  were  a  number  of  just  such  peo- 
ple on  our  transcontinental  train,  most  of  them 
being  bound  for  the  terminus  of  the  line,  and 
it  was  very  amusing  to  listen  to  their  criticisms 
of  the  country,  the  people,  the  railway,  and 
more  particularly  the  climate.  One  woman 
said:  "The  'eat  is  a  roastin'  of  me.  I  never 
in  my  life  sufifered  from  so  much  'eat."  The 
good  woman  was  wearing  clothes  heavy 
enough  for  an  Alaskan  climate.  She  had  an 
"  'at"  made  of  felt,  large  enough  in  dimen- 
sions to  cover  an  ash-barrel,  and  this  she  in- 
sisted on  putting  on  and  wearing  on  the  plat- 
form of  the  station  every  time  the  train  would 
stop  for  a  period  of  fifteen  minutes  or  more, 
as  it  did  when  changing  engines  or  stopping 
at  lunching  stations. 

In  a  few  months  or  years  these  same  people, 
when  finally  down  to  work  in  their  varying  oc- 
cupations, will  readily  become  acclimated  and 
fall  into  the  "New  Land's"  way  of  doing 
things.  They  then  become  earnest  boosters 
for  Canada  to  their  home  people,  and  the  time 
is  but  short  until  they  induce  some  of  their 
relatives  or  friends  to  come  and  spy  out  the 
wonders  of  this  new  promised  land. 

Our  train  pulled  into  Vancouver  on  time, 
and  the  journey  across  the  Continent  was  com- 


26  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

pleted.  This  was  another  city  that  I  had  vis- 
ited a  score  of  years  before,  and,  in  keeping 
with  Winnipeg  and  other  growing  cities  of 
the  Dominion,  its  development  during  this 
period  has  been  equally  astonishing. 

In  this  time  a  great  fire  had  swept  over  the 
city,  which  might  well  have  blasted  all  of  its 
future  growth,  yet  the  grave  disaster  only 
stimulated  it  to  further  exertions,  enlisting 
men  of  all  classes  and  ranks  to  help  in  the 
building  of  a  new  and  greater  Vancouver.  I 
did  not  recognize  the  place  at  all — it  was  so 
different  from  the  city  that  I  had  seen  on  the 
same  soil  in  the  year  1892.  The  fire  turned 
out  to  be  a  blessing  in  disguise  after  all,  be- 
cause the  new  city  was  developed  and  erected 
on  a  larger  plan,  with  modern  methods  and 
modern  standards,  the  result  now  being  an 
enormously  increased  population  with  an  in- 
flow of  new  capital  on  a  scale  commensurate 
with  the  new  conditions.  Enthusiasm  and 
harmony  prevail  in  the  community,  and  it 
would  seem  that  every  individual  unit  of  the 
population  was  bent  on  doing  something  or 
saying  something  to  help  the  growth  and  ex- 
pansion of  the  city.  In  talking  of  it  the  resi- 
dents of  both  high  and  low  degree  were  equally 
optimistic  of  the  future  greatness  and  exten- 


HOW  IT  ALL  CAME  ABOUT     27 

sion  of  their  city  and  equally  proud  of  its 
present  status  as  well.  A  community  that 
works  together  for  the  common  good  as  earn- 
estly as  the  citizens  of  Vancouver  and  Winni- 
peg are  doing,  is  bound  to  grow  in  wealth  and 
influence. 

I  was  fortunate  enough  to  meet  the  Hon.  H. 
H.  Stevens,  member  of  the  Dominion  Parlia- 
ment for  Vancouver — and,  by-the-way,  he  is 
the  representative  in  Parliament  of  the  most 
populous  constituency  in  the  Dominion  of 
Canada.  His  career  will  fittingly  illustrate 
in  itself  the  opportunities  of  advancement  in 
wealth,  position,  influence,  and  standing  in  the 
community  that  await  the  men  or  women  who 
realize  when  "opportunity  knocks  at  their 
door"  and  who  have  the  wisdom  to  embrace  it. 

Mr.  Stevens  is  comparatively  a  young  man, 
and  but  sixteen  years  ago  was  driver  of  a  stage 
that  ran  from  Siccamus — a  station  on  the 
C.  P.  R. — to  Vernon,  a  small  town  at  the  head 
of  Okanogan  Lake  in  British  Columbia. 
The  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  formerly  Governor- 
General  of  Canada,  owns  large  tracts  of  land 
on  the  shores  of  this  famed  lake,  where  cattle 
raising  is  conducted  on  one  side,  and  fruit 
growing  on  a  large  scale  is  carried  on  upon 
the  other. 


28  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

From  stage  driving,  young  Stevens,  having 
come  to  Vancouver,  became  a  real  estate  agent 
upon  a  small  scale.  He  took  an  interest  in 
politics  and  being  helped  by  his  brother-in- 
law,  a  bright  and  forceful  young  man,  he  was 
elected  an  Alderman  of  the  city  of  Vancouver. 
He  was  then,  as  now,  a  sturdy  advocate  of  the 
rights  of  the  common  people  as  against  cor- 
porate influence.  In  other  words,  he  was  the 
champion  of  the  people.  They  realized  this 
fact,  and  when  the  next  general  Dominion  elec- 
tion for  representatives  to  Parliament  came 
up,  he,  being  the  candidate  of  the  Conservative 
party,  was  elected  by  a  large  majority,  and  he 
now  represents  his  constituency  in  the  present 
Parliament. 

I  talked  with  a  number  of  men  about  him, 
because  I  was  really  much  interested  In  him, 
having  made  his  acquaintance  at  a  lecture  he 
gave  In  Philadelphia  a  year  or  more  before, 
and  in  substance  every  man  said  the  same: 
"Stevens  is  the  best  man  we  could  possibly 
have  as  a  member  of  Parliament,  because  he 
always  looks  out  for  the  common  people,  and 
at  the  same  time  he  is  fair  and  square  with 
the  corporations  and  so  has  their  respect  and 
co-operation," 

Mr.  Stevens  was  good  enough.  In  conjunc- 


HOW  IT  ALL  CAME  ABOUT     29 

tion  with  his  brother-in-law,  to  take  us 
through  the  city  and  its  beautiful  suburbs  in 
.an  automobile,  and  thus  gave  us  an  opportu- 
nity of  seeing  with  our  own  eyes  the  "why  and 
wherefore"  of  Vancouver's  steady  growth  and 
of  her  plans  for  the  future.  We  thus  had  the 
additional  benefit  of  the  explanation  given  us 
by  these  two  up-to-date  men.  It  is  one  thing 
to  ride  through  a  city  with  a  chauffeur,  and 
another  thing  to  be  accompanied  by  men  who 
know  the  "ins  and  outs"  of  the  city,  its  accom- 
plishments, and  its  aspirations. 


CHAPTER  II 

UP  THE  PACIFIC  COAST 
"The  air  breathes  upon  us  here  most  sweetly." 

LEAVING  Vancouver  on  August  loth  at 
1 1.40  P.  M.,  we  soon  were  speeding  north 
in  a  steamer  that  ran  as  smoothly  and  as 
quietly  as  any  one  could  wish  for.  The  fol- 
lowing morning  we  were  favored  with  mild 
weather,  but  had  to  face  a  head  wind.  Among 
the  passengers  were  five  big-game  hunters, 
bound  for  the  Gassier  District  in  Northern 
British  Columbia.  One  of  them  is  a  famous 
surgeon  of  Milwaukee,  Dr.  H.  A.  Sifton,  who 
was  born  in  London,  Canada,  my  old  town 
where  I  spent  many  of  my  boyhood  days.  He 
was  accompanied  by  Robert  A.  Uihlein  of 
Milwaukee,  a  sturdy  athletic  young  man  who 
has  large  business  interests  in  that  city.  He 
is  compelled  to  take  to  hunting  so  as  to  balance 
up  for  his  close  devotion  to  business  pursuits. 
Then  came  J.  A.  Burnham,  a  hunter  just 
fresh  from  Sumatra,  where  he  had  been  after 
elephants  and  other  big  game.     He  was  ac- 


UP  THE  PACIFIC  COAST        31 

companied  by  his  young  wife,  who  seemed  to 
be  getting  weary  of  "globe  trotting."  She 
was  longing  for  some  place  where  they  could 
settle  down  and  live  a  quiet  life  with  their  two 
little  children. 

Next  came  a  self-made  and  confident  man 
from  Victoria,  B.  C.  He  was  going  to  Dease 
Lake,  up  the  Stikine  River,  and  would  carry 
a  pack  of  eighty  pounds  overland  besides  his 
6-50  caliber  Mannlicher  rifle.  This  man 
knows  the  "how"  of  hunting  by  himself,  doing 
his  own  cooking  and  going  into  an  unknown 
section  of  country  with  confidence  in  his  abil- 
ity to  "make  good"  and  get  out  again  in  safety. 

We  soon  became  acquainted  with  all,  and 
as  they  were  to  be  with  us  until  we  reached 
Fort  Wrangell,  in  Alaska,  the  time  passed 
quickly  and  we  mutually  enjoyed  each  other's 
society. 

From  Fort  Wrangell  they  were  to  take  a 
small  powder  boat  called  the  Black  Fox,  which 
we  afterwards  saw.  She  is  about  forty  feet 
long,  covered  over  with  canvas,  and  very 
narrow.  She  was  to  take  the  whole  party  up 
the  swift  Stikine  River — a  journey  of  nearly 
five  days — to  Telegraph  Creek,  where  they 
were  to  outfit.  On  the  return  trip  she  can 
run  down  in  about  ten  or  twelve  hours. 


32  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

Telegraph  Creek  got  its  name  in  a  very 
curious  manner.  Some  forty-seven  years  ago 
the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  ran 
a  line  of  wires  via  the  "Ashcrof t  Trail,"  which 
starts  in  at  the  town  of  that  name,  located  on 
the  C.  P.  R.  system  about  two  hundred  and 
forty  miles  from  Vancouver.  The  Western 
Union's  purpose  was  to  carry  this  line  up  to 
.Behring  Strait  and  lay  a  cable  under  that 
body  of  water — which  is  but  a  few  miles  across 
— and  then  build  a  line  to  St.  Petersburg,  to 
Paris,  and  other  European  capitals,  and  finally 
to  London. 

M^hen  the  line  reached  this  creek,  a  message 
came  that  the  Atlantic  cable,  just  laid,  was  a 
complete  and  successful  line,  and  was  then  in 
operation.  The  engineer  corps  in  charge  of 
the  work  of  stringing  this  overhead  line  was 
ordered  back  to  New  York.  Thus  the  creek 
became  known  as  Telegraph  Creek. 

In  the  Bear  River  country,  in  Upper  Brit- 
ish Columbia,  I  came  across  several  bridges 
built  by  Indians  with  the  wire  left  stranded 
from  this  abandoned  line.  They  would  fasten 
the  wires  firmly  to  trees  or  rocks  on  each  side 
of  a  canyon  or  stream,  and  then  lay  boards — 
sawed  with  the  whip  saw — over  the  wires. 
The  bridge  work  was  rude,  but  it  was  safe  and 


UP  THE  PACIFIC  COAST        33 

lasting,  and  that  was  all  that  the  Indians 
required. 

Now  Telegraph  Creek  boasts  of  a  Hudson 
Bay  Company's  store,  and  another  general 
merchandise  store,  together  with  a  church  and 
a  hotel,  and  quite  a  cluster  of  small  houses. 

Mr.  W.  B.  Close,  of  London,  England,  the 
man  who  had  the  pluck  and  ability  to  finance 
the  White  Horse  Pass  Railroad,  and  his  sec- 
retary. Captain  Gordon  Cummings,  also  an 
Englishman,  were  aboard  the  boat.  Mr. 
Close's  trip  was  to  explore  a  new  section  of 
country  in  which  large  deposits  of  copper  have 
been  found,  and  perhaps  his  visit  may  lead  to 
the  building  of  a  new  railroad  in  this  virgin 
section  of  the  Yukon  Territory. 

Four  priests  and  three  nuns  helped  to  add 
variety  and  interest  to  the  more  than  one  hun- 
dred passengers  that  were  crowded  into  the 
steamer. 

One  of  the  most  Important  of  the  passen- 
gers— Mr.  Treadgold — is  an  Englishman,  and 
the  most  noted  gold-mine  operator  in  the 
Klondike  field.  He  told  us  about  a  man  who 
conducted  a  novel  method  of  transportation 
in  the  Klondike  rush  days.  This  man  in- 
stalled a  strong  cable  across  a  deep  canyon, 
through  whose  valley  all  the  supplies  to  the 


34  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

Klondike  would  have  to  be  carried  both  down 
and  up  its  steep  banks.  He  charged  $ioo  a 
ton  for  carrying  the  freight  across  by  means  of 
his  cable,  and  the  man  admitted  that  he  coined 
money  as  long  as  the  rush  lasted. 

Mr.  Treadgold  was  full  of  anecdotes  of 
those  days,  which  throw  some  light  upon  the 
desperate  chances  men  took  during  that  cru- 
cial time,  and  the  hardships  they  endured. 

At  Dyea,  a  closed  house  had  this  legend 
written  on  the  door,  "Klondike  or  Bust."  The 
owner  went  to  the  Klondike  and  later  on  he 
returned  from  his  venture,  erased  the  first  two 
words,  and  "Bust"  was  left.  It  told  the  story 
as  eloquently  as  a  whole  book  could  have  told 
it. 

Over  the  door  of  a  house  occupied  by  a 
white  woman,  these  words  in  large  bold  letters 
were  written,  "Fortunes  Told,"  and  in  small, 
letters  as  if  to  be  spoken  in  a  whisper,  "Wash- 
ing Taken."  Who  is  there  who  could  not  see 
the  tragic  side  of  that  mute  message? 

A  squaw  was  asked,  "Whom  did  you  marry, 
an  Indian?" 

"No." 

"Did  you  marry  a  white  man  then?" 

"No." 

"Well,  whom  did  you  marry?" 


UP  THE  PACIFIC  COAST        35 

"A  Scotchman,"  she  said. 

Some  gold  seekers  on  a  train  on  the  C.  P.  R. 
were  made  very  angry  by  the  repeated  changes 
in  time,  always  of  an  hour  later,  as  they  jour- 
neyed farther  and  farther  from  the  rising  sun. 
The  last  change  was  made  before  reaching 
Vancouver,  and  in  their  eagerness  to  get  to 
the  fabled  land  of  gold  and  adventure,  many 
of  them  cursed  the  train  people  for  making 
them  "lose"  so  much  time.  A  wandering  He- 
brew silenced  them,  however,  by  saying: 
**Vel,  don't  ve  get  once  an  hour's  traveling 
mitoud  paying  notings  for  it?" 

Our  steamer  stopped  at  Alert  Bay,  Port 
Simpson,  and  Prince  Rupert.  This  last  town 
will  be  the  terminus  of  the  New  Grand 
Trunk  Pacific  Railroad,  which  will  not  be  in 
operation  as  far  as  this  port  for  a  year  and  a 
half,  or  until  19 14.  The  town  site  is  not  at- 
tractive. It  is  covered  with  high  rocks 
through  which  several  openings  for  streets 
have  been  blasted.  There  are  perhaps  a 
dozen  stores  here — some  of  them  being  quite 
pretentious,  while  a  couple  of  churches  look 
after  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  populace,  and 
branches  of  two  big  Eastern  banks  take  care  of 
the  financial  end.  The  prices  asked  for  store 
sites  seem  to  be  outrageously  high.     Opposite 


36  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

a  liquor  store  were  two  vacant  lots  which  be- 
longed to  the  Canadian  Government  and  were 
to  be  sold  by  it  on  the  28th  of  August.  It 
was  expected  that  they  would  bring  $90,000. 
A  corner  lot  of  forty  feet  front  was  offered 
for  sale  at  $54,000. 

A  Welshman,  who  owns  a  fruit  store,  en- 
deavored to  interest  us  in  its  purchase  by 
offering  the  frame  building  for  $10,000,  the 
ground  for  $40,000,  and  an  assortment  of  fresh 
vegetables,  oranges,  meat,  etc.,  he  said  he 
would  throw  in  as  an  additional  inducement. 
This  man  had  been  through  the  Boer  War  in 
South  Africa,  had  come  to  Prince  Rupert  in 
the  very  early  days,  and  had  bought  his  bit 
of  ground  when  it  was  not  so  "  'igh"  in  price 
as  it  is  now. 

We  were  of  the  opinion  that  many  Investors 
In  building  lots  here  would  be  cruelly  sur- 
prised by  a  big  drop  in  prices  before  very 
long. 

At  Port  Simpson  we  heard  that  the  Great 
Northern  Railroad  Company  was  trying  to 
purchase  500  acres  of  bay-front  for  a  ter- 
minal, but  so  far  had  been  unable  to  acquire 
the  desired  land.  Port  Simpson  has  but  a  few 
scattered  houses,  a  couple  of  churches,  one  so- 
called  hotel,  a  stone  monument  to  the  memory 


UP  THE  PACIFIC  COAST       37 

of  the  late  chief  of  a  tribe  of  Indians  that  re- 
side here,  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay 
a  lot  of  empty  houses  which  were  erected  in 
the  belief  that  a  railroad  was  surely  going  to 
use  the  port  as  a  terminal. 

We  were  very  much  interested  in  Fort 
Wrangell.  The  Alaska  Sanitary  Cannery  is 
located  here,  where  they  pack  the  salmon  as 
they  come  in  from  a  salmon  trap  a  few  hun- 
dred yards  from  the  cannery.  It  may  well  be 
called  a  ''sanitary  cannery,"  because  every- 
thing is  as  clean  as  the  cleanest  home  kitchen. 
There  is  not  a  particle  of  disorder  in  the  can- 
nery and  the  noble-looking  fish,  as  they  lie 
on  the  racks  before  being  cleaned,  are  very 
enticing  to  the  appetite  as  well  as  to  the 
eye. 

A  man  who  had  been  engaged  in  seal  hunting 
for  years  walked  around  the  village  with  me. 
We  saw  a  small  shop  with  its  front  window 
filled  with  sealskin  slippers.  My  friend  said 
that  if  I  wanted  to  buy  a  pair  of  them  he 
would  pick  them  out  for  me.  This  he  did, 
and  I  asked  the  proprietor — a  fat,  stupid-look- 
ing man — what  the  price  was. 

"Two  dollars,"  he  answered. 

In  an  endeavor  to  take  a  "rise"  out  of  him, 
I  asked  if  that  was  the  best  he  could  do. 


38  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

"Yes,  sir,"  he  replied.  "I  can't  make  them 
there  slippers  no  less." 

"Don't  you  take  anything  off  for  minis- 
ters?" 

"Hell,  no;  there's  nothin'  to  take  off." 

I  turned  towards  the  door  as  if  I  was  going 
to  leave. 

He  at  once  called  to  me:  "Say,  I'll  tell  ye 
what  I'll  do,  if  you'll  buy  this  pair  of  slippers, 
I'll  wrap  them  up  in  the  last  edition  of  our 
town  paper,  which  costs  five  cents." 

This  was  assented  to.  The  "town  paper" 
was  produced  and  duly  wrapped  around  the 
slippers.  The  whistle  of  the  boat  sounded 
the  signal  that  she  was  about  to  leave,  and 
we  hurried  back  to  her,  and  when  aboard  we 
eagerly  looked  through  the  little  paper  to  get 
the  news  contained  in  this  "last"  edition.  It 
was  now  close  to  the  middle  of  August,  and 
the  date  of  the  paper  was  February  first.  It 
was  evidently  the  very  "last"  edition,  as  one 
of  the  passengers  said  the  paper  had  ceased 
its  publication  on  that  particular  day.  That 
man  was  not  so  stupid  as  he  looked. 

In  due  course  of  time  we  arrived  at  Skag- 
way,  several  hours  late.  The  train  for  White 
Horse  had  waited  for  us,  so  that  there  was 
much  hurrying  to  and  fro  to  get  aboard  the 


UP  THE  PACIFIC  COAST        39 

train  with  our  belongings — trunks,  satchels, 
rifles,  and  suit-cases. 

This  done,  with  a  toot  of  the  steam  whistle 
of  the  Baldwin  locomotive,  w^hich  pulled  our 
train,  we  were  off  for  a  ride  over  the  famous 
narrow-gauge  White  Pass  Railroad.  This 
road  is  perhaps  the  most  talked  about  of  any 
small  railroad  in  the  world.  It  is  but  a  hun- 
dred and  ten  miles  long,  but  the  difficulties  of 
its  construction  and  the  attendant  cost,  have 
made  it  one  of  the  greatest  engineering  feats  of 
the  world's  history. 

For  a  short  distance  the  train  runs  over  the 
old  White  Pass  Trail.  It  was  over  this  trail 
that  the  hordes  of  gold  seekers  slaved  and 
toiled  along  their  weary  way  in  i897-'98. 
The  men  were  pack-laden,  yet  eager-hearted 
and  hopeful,  most  of  them  believing  that 
Dame  Fortune  would  surely  smile  on  them 
after  all  their  labors  and  hardships. 

Our  locomotive  sputtered  and  worried  up 
the  steep  ascent  until  Dead  Horse  Gulch  was 
reached,  where  hundreds  of  tired  and  over- 
laden horses  in  the  lively  times  of  these  two 
'fabled  years,  unable  to  go  any  farther,  tottered 
and  fell  over  the  sharp  edge  of  the  slippery 
mountain,  down — down,  into  the  weird  depths 
of  the  forbidding-looking  canyon  below. 


40  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

Next  came  a  section  where  the  train  seemed 
to  be  crawling  under  huge  boulders,  and  then 
hanging  almost  by  the  teeth  above  an  almost 
bottomless  abyss  with  a  foaming  stream  tear- 
ing through  it.  Here  was  a  notable  bridge 
spanning  a  canyon  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
deep  and  here  the  White  Pass  trail  was  left 
behind.  After  a  ride  of  an  hour  and  a  half 
we  reached  White  Pass  Summit,  three  thou- 
sand feet  above  sea  level.  Here  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  and  the  red  flag  of  Britain  float  side 
by  side,  because  it  is  the  boundary  line  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  the  Yukon  Terri- 
tory, belonging  to  the  Dominion  of  Canada. 
If  you  want  to,  you  can  stand  with  one  foot 
on  British  soil  and  the  other  on  Uncle  Sam's 
possessions. 


CHAPTER  III 

"PUT  FORTH  THY  HAND — REACH  AT  THE 
GLORIOUS  gold" 

SIXTY-NINE  miles  away  from  Skagway, 
we  reach  the  town  of  Caribou.  Here  is 
a  college  or  advanced  school  for  Indian  girls, 
where  the  eldest  daughter  of  our  head  guide- 
to-be  is  a  student.  Although  he  is  a  white 
man,  born  in  Canada,  yet  the  girl's  mother  is 
an  Indian  woman. 

Here  you  may  take  the  steamer  Gleaner 
for  the  Atlin  Gold  Fields.  At  Taku  you 
leave  the  steamer  and  ride  on  a  train  to  Atlin 
Lake,  and  for  a  few  minutes  we  will  talk 
about  the  gold  mines  of  this  particular 
vicinity. 

Like  many  another  man,  I  have  frequently 
been  induced  to  invest  more  or  less  money  in 
gold  mines.  I  regret  to  say  that  my  judgment 
has  been  very  bad  in  their  selection,  as  I  do 
not  recollect  ever  having  received  a  single  dol- 
lar in  return  therefrom. 

Among    these    much-vaunted    prospective 


42  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

mining  enterprises  was  one  that  promised  sure 
and  large  dividends,  because  of  the  fact  that 
the  proposed  company  would  control  the  wa- 
ters of  a  considerable  sheet  of  water  called 
Atlin  Lake. 

The  projectors  laid  much  stress  on  their 
plan  of  having  a  large  and  powerful  dredge 
built  in  San  Francisco;  the  same  to  be  for- 
warded piece-meal  to  this  lake  at  an  enor- 
mous expense  of  time  and  money.  When  it 
arrived  and  was  finally  put  together,  with 
boilers  and  all  the  attendant  machinery  in- 
stalled, it  was  calculated  that  they  would  move 
the  dredge  to  and  fro  over  the  water,  and  lift 
up  the  rich  sand  from  the  bottom.  They 
would  then  abstract  the  abundant  gold  dust 
from  it  at  little  cost,  and  thus  realize  large 
dividends  in  return.     Such  was  the  plan. 

A  rather  'Svindy"  promoter  visited  the 
large  cities  of  the  East,  including  New  York 
and  Philadelphia,  carelessly  carrying  with 
him  numerous  big  nuggets  of  gold  in  a  bag 
to  show  to  the  prospective  stock  buyer  how 
easy  it  would  be  under  their  novel  plan  of 
mining,  to  lift  barrels  of  just  such  nuggets 
from  the  depths  of  the  lake. 

The  season  when  work  of  this  kind  could 
be  done  in  this  sterile  and  cold  country  be- 


"PUT  FORTH  THY  HAND"      43 

ing  very  short — in  fact,  only  about  six  weeks — 
the  assembling  of  the  component  parts  of  the 
mammoth  dredge  was  rushed  to  completion, 
and  yet  it  was  too  late  to  be  of  service  during 
that  particular  season. 

The  following  one,  however,  found  every- 
thing ready  for  lifting  the  precious  metal  to 
the  surface.  The  machinery  was  started  and 
the  big  dredge  was  towed  to  the  most  favor- 
able place  to  make  the  richest  and  quickest 
hauls  of  golden  nuggets. 

What  happened? 

The  great  bucket  descended  over  and  over 
again  to  the  bottom,  but  nothing  ever  came 
up.  It  was  whispered  about  that  the  floor  of 
this  part  of  the  lake  was  all  paved  with  gi- 
gantic boulders,  and  so  the  dredge  was  taken 
to  another  portion  of  the  lake,  but  with  the 
same  result.  After  vainly  endeavoring  to  find 
a  place  at  the  bottom  where  sand  and  gold 
might  be  found,  with  no  boulders  to  interfere 
with  the  dredge,  the  idea  was  abandoned  and 
once  more  "Hope,  Eternal  Hope"  was  shat- 
tered. 

Nearly  a  half-million  dollars  had  been  ex- 
pended in  building  and  getting  the  dredge 
ready  for  its  work,  in  addition  to  salaries  to 
the  so-called  engineers  and  commissions  to  the 


44  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

sellers  of  stock,  and  now  ruin  stared  all  of  the 
officials  in  the  face.  The  very  simple  precau- 
tion of  having  the  bottom  of  the  lake  explored, 
before  making  such  a  costly  experiment,  had 
never  apparently  been  thought  of. 

There  was  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  leave 
the  dredge  where  it  was,  and  so  when  a  man — 
any  man — wanted  something  that  could  be 
removed  from  it,  he  came  and  took  what  he 
needed,  and  there  was  '^none  to  say  him  nay." 
So  the  small  army  of  "succors"  who  had  lis- 
tened to  the  siren  voices  of  the  "windy"  pro- 
moters received  no  returns  for  their  hard- 
earned  investment  in  the  "British  American 
Dredging  Company." 

I  tell  this  story  because  it  is  typical  of  so 
many  similar  gold-mining  fakes,  trusting  that 
it  may  act  as  a  brake  to  the  eagerness  with 
which  men  part  with  their  money  to  follow 
the  "Will-o'-the-wisp"  in  vainly  searching  for 
gold  in  far-away  countries. 

About  ten  years  ago  a  young  man  from  New 
York  with  nearly  two  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars in  cash  came  into  a  district  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  miles  from  Atlin  and  near  the 
head  of  another  notable  lake.  This  young 
man  had  no  practical  knowledge  of  mining. 
He  was  but  a  youth — inexperienced  in  the 


X 


"PUT  FORTH  THY  HAND"      45 

world's  ways.  He  had  a  hobby,  and  that 
hobby  was  to  have  plenty  of  bosses.  It  is 
said  that  at  one  time  he  actually  had  thirty- 
five  superintendents  and  bosses,  with  only  five 
real  workmen  to  dig  for  the  gold  and  to  do 
all  of  the  work.  He  became  fascinated  with 
the  many  lures  in  and  around  the  lively  town 
of  White  Horse.  "Wine,  women,  and  song" 
did  for  him  what  it  has  done  for  thousands 
of  other  men,  and  so  his  mining  experience 
was  fitful  and  erratic.  The  inevitable  end 
came  sooner  than  was  expected.  His  money 
vanished,  he  ran  into  debt,  the  work  on  the 
mine  was  shut  down,  the  houses  for  the  oper- 
ators and  the  road-house  for  visitors  w^hich 
had  been  built  at  heavy  expense  were  left  to 
the  mercies  of  wind  and  rain. 

The  valuable  machinery  and  tools,  besides 
the  livestock,  were  mostly  left  uncared  for, 
and  the  buildings,  though  still  standing,  are 
rapidly  going  to  ruin.  In  such  a  fashion 
came  the  ending  of  another  gold-mining 
dream. 

As  I  rode  through  this  "deserted  village" 
one  day,  not  a  living  thing  could  be  seen, — 
not  even  a  dog.  We  saw  the  untenanted 
houses  with  wide-open  doors  as  if  beckoning 
some  one  to  come  in  and  occupy  them.     The 


46  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

famous  road-house  and  its  big  stable  were  go- 
ing to  wrack  and  ruin  and  I  wondered  how 
and  where  the  youthful  owner  could  ever  rec- 
ompense himself  for  his  folly  and  incompe- 
tence. 

"Gold — all  gold — this  is  fairy  gold,  boy, 
and  'twill  prove  so" — and  so  it  did  prove. 
The  youth  wended  his  way  back  to  the  me- 
tropolis a  much  chastened  and  humiliated 
young  man. 

In  due  time  the  train  arrived  at  White 
Horse,  after  passing  through  gorges  and 
mountains  and  over  circling  bridges,  including 
the  great  cantilever  bridge  spanning  a  can- 
yon two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  deep.  We 
were  five  hours  late,  and  reached  the  famous 
town  of  White  Horse  at  9.30  P.  M.  in  place  of 
4.30.  The  custom  house  closes  here  at  4.30, 
but  the  Chief  Officer  of  this  department  was 
courteous  enough  to  be  on  hand  to  inspect  our 
baggage,  which  he  did  in  a  few  minutes,  so 
that  we  were  permitted  to  remove  it  to  the 
hotel  that  night. 

The  Hotel  White  Horse  is  a  clean,  well- 
managed  inn,  with  a  woman  In  charge  of  the 
house  proper,  while  a  man  controls  the  liquid 
end.     A  stout  woman  has  charge  of  the  cook- 


"PUT  FORTH  THY  HAND"      47 

ing  and  eating  department,  for  which  she  ex- 
pects a  goodly  sum  from  each  traveler  for  the 
food  that  he  eats.  Thus  the  hotel  is  run  un- 
der a  sort  of  a  tripartite  management. 

I  lay  down  on  my  bed  to  wait  while  my 
partner  took  a  hot  bath  (there  was  but  one 
bath-room)  and  while  waiting  for  him  to  get 
through  with  his  ablutions  I  fell  asleep.  I 
was  awakened  by  a  chorus  of  voices  singing  a 
familiar  song — "We'll  not  go  home  till 
mornin'  " — and  they  w^ere  telling  the  truth, 
as  it  was  then  nearly  one  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing. The  noise  of  singing  came  from  a  lot  of 
citizens  who  were  doing  the  honors  to  a  major 
of  the  Northwest  Mounted  Police,  who  had 
recently  been  promoted  to  a  higher  position. 

In  the  morning  we  got  out  our  hunting  togs 
and  donned  them  for  the  first  time  for  use  in 
the  hard  work  of  the  days  to  come.  We  left 
everything  that  couldn't  be  used,  or  rather  that 
wouldn't  be  absolutely  needed  in  the  hunt,  in 
our  trunks,  until  our  return.  After  break- 
fast, the  first  thing  in  order  was  to  see  that 
the  men,  the  horses,  and  the  supplies  to  be 
taken  with  us,  were  ready  for  an  early  start. 

The  evening  before  we  had  met  Thomas  A. 
Dickson,  the  head  guide;  Louie  Jaquotte,  the 
wrangler;  and  Eugene,  his  brother,  the  cook. 


48  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

They  said  that  in  the  morning  everything 
would  be  in  readiness,  but  it  was  not.  There 
was  still  much  preparation  to  be  made,  not 
only  during  the  early  morn,  but  all  the  fore- 
noon. 

In  the  previous  month,  July,  one  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  twenty-eight  pounds  of  sup- 
plies had  been  sent  ahead  of  us  to  a  central 
camp  over  two  hundred  miles  away.  Now 
we  had  to  take  the  necessary  supplies  with  us 
to  last  us  on  the  journey  until  that  point  was 
reached. 

The  outfitters  of  merchandise  seemed  to  de- 
sire to  prolong  our  stay  in  White  Horse  rather 
than  to  help  us  to  start  on  our  way,  and  they 
couldn't  or  wouldn't  be  hurried,  so  that  when 
we  finally  did  leave,  we  went  without  our  in- 
voice for  the  supplies. 

At  2.30  P.  M.  a  four-horse  wagon  drove  up, 
followed  by  a  two-horse  rig.  A  few  bags, 
cases,  and  bundles  of  supplies  were  loaded 
into  the  big  wagon  together  with  a  large  bolt 
of  tent  cloth  and  a  coil  of  rope.  At  four 
o'clock  two  mules  and  a  horse  were  brought 
to  the  front  of  the  outfitters'  stores,  and  we 
were  told  to  mount  our  steeds. 

I  found  that  instead  of  "the  finest  saddle 
horse   in   the   Yukon,"   which    Dickson   had 


"PUT  FORTH  THY  HAND"      49 

promised  me,  I  was  to  ride  a  mule.  The 
Chief  said  that  when  we  came  to  a  lake  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  away,  I  would  get  the 
famous  horse — not  before  that — but  he  was 
a  paragon,  having  all  the  virtues  that  could 
be  possessed  by  any  horse;  in  the  meantime, 
I  was  to  ride  a  mule. 

The  Chief  passed  a  high  eulogium  upon 
the  mule  whose  name  he  said  was  "Billie" — 
"Billie"  with  no  prefix  or  subfix  whatsoever. 
He  forgot  to  say  that  among  the  natives  he 
always  went  by  one  of  two  names — "Billie  the 
Wild"  or  "Wild  Billie,"  and  he  also  neg- 
lected to  say  that  he  was  famous  because  he 
had  thrown  more  men  and  wrecked  more  bug- 
gies and  sleighs  than  any  other  five  horses  or 
mules  in  the  Yukon.  It  was  perhaps  better 
or  more  polite  that  he  should  keep  this  infor- 
mation to  himself,  as  the  sequel  will  show. 

While  sitting  on  Billie  and  waiting  for  the 
cavalcade  to  begin  the  journey,  a  man  came 
to  me  and  advised  me  to  demand  of  the  head 
guide  that  a  start  be  made  for  the  "Meadows" 
— a  camping  spot  five  miles  away  on  our  road, 
— where  plenty  of  grass  and  w^ater  w^ere  to  be 
found,  saying  that  if  we  didn't  make  such  a 
beginning  we  might  be  held  back  from  one 
cause  or  another  for  one  or  more  days.     So 


50  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

I  insisted  upon  a  start  without  any  further 
delay. 

Then  a  stout  woman  came  up  to  me  and 
told  the  story  of  her  experience  in  White 
Horse.  She  was  a  cook — had  been  six  weeks 
in  the  town.  She  was  "Oh,  so  lonely,"  and 
wanted  to  go  back  home  to  St.  Paul,  Minn. 
She  was  willing  to  go  in  "any  old  way." 
Wouldn't  I  take  her  with  me  when  I  came 
back?  If  I  did  she  would  never  forget  me  as 
long  as  she  lived.  Couldn't  I  pack  her  in  my 
big  trunk — bore  holes  in  it,  so  that  she  w^ould 
get  air — then  when  the  trunk  was  put  on  the 
steamer  and  the  steamer  had  started  she  would 
get  out  on  the  deck  and  nobody  would  know 
that  she  hadn't  paid  her  fare?  The  woman 
had  all  she  could  do  to  keep  from  crying  right 
there  in  the  open  street.  Of  course,  I  only 
laughed  at  her — that  being  the  best  tonic  to 
give  her. 

Before  leaving  my  home  city,  I  had  ordered 
a  pair  of  riding  breeches  to  be  made  of  the  best 
and  heaviest  moleskin,  and  I  had  pictured  to 
myself  much  ease  and  comfort  as  well  as 
warmth  in  wearing  them.  I  had  very  hard 
work  to  get  them  on.  The  tailor's  plans  had 
evidently  "gone  aglee,"  for  they  were  so  tight 
that  the  buttons  from  the  knees  down  could 


m 


13 
CO 


"PUT  FORTH  THY  HAND"      51 

not  be  buttoned ;  worst  of  all,  I  could  not  bend 
my  knees  in  them,  therefore  I  could  not  mount 
the  mule  without  help.  The  "help,"  which 
was  tendered  me  by  a  man  on  each  side  of  the 
mule,  consisted  in  actually  lifting  me  into  the 
saddle.  What  an  ignoble  way  this  was  to  in- 
augurate a  trip  that  before  it  was  over  might 
cover  over  a  thousand  miles  in  the  saddle! 

Having  been  thus  laboriously  "chucked" 
into  the  saddle,  the  Chief  rode  up  to  me  and 
said  that  "no  mule  could  equal  Billie  for  gen- 
tleness, easiness  of  movement,  and  fast  walk- 
ing or  even  running."  He  hesitated  a  minute 
or  so  after  this  laudation,  and  then  said  as 
carelessly  as  he  could,  as  if  it  was  a  matter  of 
little  consequence,  "There's  one  thing,  how- 
ever, that  you  must  watch  out  for — Billie  is 
afraid  of  an  Indian,  and  the  scent  of  a  red  man 
a  mile  off  will  frighten  him;  to  come  close 
enough  to  see  one  would  be  still  worse."  I 
was  then  cooly  advised  to  keep  a  sharp  lookout 
for  the  "coming  of  the  red  man." 

As  I  had  never  before  been  on  a  mule's  back, 
and  was  at  a  distinct  disadvantage  by  reason 
of  my  tight  breeches,  which  would  prevent  me 
from  getting  off  in  a  hurry  if  such  a  movement 
would  be  necessary,  I  did  considerable  hard 
thinking  while  waiting   for   the   caravan   to 


52  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

start.  We  were  delayed  about  something,  but 
what  that  something  was  no  one  I  questioned 
was  able  to  tell.  In  the  meantime  the 
whole  populace  of  the  town  seemed  to  be 
intent  upon  watching  our  departure.  Some 
men  from  the  railroad  across  the  street  saunt- 
ered over,  the  boarders  at  the  hotel  forgot  to 
imbibe  fiery  liquids  at  half  a  dollar  a  drink, 
the  clerks  and  employees  in  the  stores  crowded 
the  sidewalk.  There  were  also  quite  a  num- 
ber of  women  spectators.  In  fact,  it  looked 
as  if  all  of  the  population  was  determined  to 
do  us  the  honor  of  seeing  us  start  upon  our 
fateful  trip,  and  I  really  felt  proud  over  the 
apparent  ovation. 

Alas  for  me,  I  little  knew  of  ''Billie  the 
Wild's"  reputation.  For  he  was  better 
known  in  White  Horse  than  most  of  the  citi- 
zens, and  just  think — hadn't  the  man  who  was 
to  ride  him  been  actually  lifted  into  the  sad- 
dle? And  what  happenings  might  not  be 
seen  if  but  a  solitary  Indian  should  now  stroll 
up  to  the  caravan?  How  long  would  the 
man  with  the  new  breeches  stay  on  the  mule 
then?  I  might  soon  be  ingloriously  thrown, 
and  with  Othello  I  might  cry:  "Reputation, 
reputation,  reputation,  Oh,  L  have  lost  my 
reputation." 


"PUT  FORTH  THY  HAND"      53 

Of  all  of  this  I  happily  knew  nothing,  and 
at  4.45  P.  M.  we  at  last — ^at  last — started  away 
without  any  circus  performance  on  the  part  of 
the  mule. 

We  were  to  go  but  five  miles  and  then  pitch 
tents  for  the  night.  Billie,  true  to  his  reputa- 
tion, easily  led  the  procession,  as  he  was  a  won- 
derful walker.  All  went  well  for  a  couple  of 
miles,  and  the  wind,  blowing  in  our  faces  as 
we  rode,  made  "the  green  leaves  quiver  with 
the  cooling  wind." 

Then  Billie  commenced  to  throw  his  right 
ear  back  and  his  left  ear  front,  which  actions 
the  Chief  having  observed,  he  rode  up  and 
said:  "There's  sure  an  Indian  ahead  of  us; 
now  keep  cool,  stick  to  the  mule  and  don't  let 
him  throw  you." 

How  was  that  for  a  man  riding  in  tight 
breeches — so  tight  as  to  lock  his  knees?  But 
holding  the  bridle  of  the  fearsome  mule  with 
my  left  hand,  I  patted  his  neck  with  my  right, 
and  talked  to  him  in  a  "soothing"  tone,  at  the 
same  time  keeping  a  sharp  watch  for  the  In- 
dian. Sure  enough  he  finally  appeared.  He 
was  only  a  young  Indian,  however,  a  lad  of 
eighteen;  perhaps  had  he  been  a  full-grown 
Indian  the  situation  might  have  been  more 
difficult,     as     the    scent    might    have    been 


54  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

"ranker."  However,  Billie  walked  past  him. 
x\gitated  he  was  undoubtedly,  but  I  flattered 
myself  that  my  affectionate  treatment  of  him 
had  won  the  day. 

Another  mile-stone  was  reached,  and  once 
more  there  was  trouble  and  once  more  I  tried 
the  "loving"  treatment,  but  in  this  case  he 
bolted,  swung  clear  around,  and  started  for 
White  Horse.  Now  that  was  not  the  direction 
in  which  I  wanted  to  go.  A  sharp  cut  with 
the  willow  stick  and  a  strong  pull  at  the  bridle 
brought  him  to  face  the  music,  whatever  it 
might  be.  Then  we  discovered  that  a  large 
grizzly  bear's  fresh  tracks  crossed  our  trail, 
and  the  Chief  hastened  to  apologize  for  not 
telling  me  that  Billie  was  also  always  badly 
frightened  when  he  struck  the  fresh  trail  of  a 
bear. 

Without  further  excitement  the  "Meadows" 
were  reached,  at  7.30  on  the  evening  of  August 
fifteenth. 

In  a  walk  of  a  mile  that  night  after  supper 
six  Arctic  hares  were  seen,  and  from  that  time 
on  until  the  end  of  the  whole  trip  we  must 
have  seen  many  thousands  of  these  agile  but 
rather  foolish  animals.  It  is  hard  to  imagine 
how  the  native  Indians  and  the  small  white 
population    could    get    along    without    these 


"PUT  FORTH  THY  HAND"      55 

harmless  but  necessary  animals,  as  they  make 
a  good  meal  at  any  time  of  the  year,  but  more 
particularly  in  the  fall  when  they're  fat  and 
in  prime  condition.  We  shot  quite  a  few  of 
them  on  the  journey,  together  with  plenty  of 
grouse  and  ptarmigan,  and  they  made  an  ac- 
ceptable addition  to  our  food  supply. 

When  we  got  to  the  mountain  sheep  country 
and  tasted  for  the  first  time  the  flesh  of  a  three- 
year-old  mountain  ram,  however,  we  didn't 
hanker  much  for  rabbit  meat. 

On  the  sixteenth — our  first  full  day's  travel 
— we  covered  twenty-six  miles,  crossing  the 
Takiki  River,  a  deep  and  swift-running 
stream,  by  means  of  a  cable.  The  ferry  was 
run  by  the  rapid  current  carrying  a  raft  at- 
tached to  the  cable  with  our  outfit  loaded  on 
it.  At  this  crossing  we  had  our  first  noonday 
dinner  in  the  open.  Later,  as  we  journeyed 
on,  Louie  Jaquotte  regaled  me  v/ith  stories  of 
what  they  did  during  the  cold  winters  and 
how  they  lived.  He  was  eloquent  in  his  des- 
cription of  the  usefulness  of  the  husky  dogs 
in  the  Yukon.  He  had  more  or  less  to  do  with 
the  huskies,  and  he  recited  the  incidents  of  one 
journey  of  three  hundred  and  twenty-three 
miles  which  he  covered  with  his  own  dog  team 
in  nine  days.     The  dogs  were  fed  principally 


56  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

on  frozen  fish.  On  this  trip  quite  a  few  ptar- 
migan were  captured  or  shot — I  forget  which 
— and  most  of  the  birds  were  given  to  the  dogs, 
who  ate  them  with  great  relish. 

A  dense  cloud  came  up  during  this  day  and 
the  temperature  dropped  40  degrees,  so  that 
we  had  our  first  frost  at  night.  We  passed 
through  an  Indian  village,  but  all  the  inhabit- 
ants were  away  on  a  salmon  fishing  excursion. 
At  night-fall  we  reached  a  good  stopping 
place  with  plenty  of  grass  and  water.  We 
had  made  twenty-seven  miles  for  the  day. 

The  eighteenth  was  a  bright  pleasant  day 
but  very  windy.  A  start  was  made  at  5.15 
A.  M.  as  a  hard  day's  trip  was  before  us.  I 
rode  Billie  most  of  this  forenoon.  The  pre- 
vious days  I  had  been  walking  more  than  rid- 
ing. Now,  overhearing  the  Chief  telling  Eu- 
gene the  cook  to  be  sure  to  get  me  to  dismount 
before  going  down  a  steep  incline  to  an  Indian 
village,  I  "took  time  by  the  forelock"  and  dis- 
mounted before  we  came  to  the  drop  in  the 
road.  Keeping  a  sharp  lookout,  I  saw  an  old 
Indian  and  his  squaw  sitting  out  in  the  open 
before  an  outdoor  fire  of  logs.  They  proved 
to  be  the  chief  of  the  tribe  and  his  wife;  all 
the  rest  of  the  bucks,  squaws,  and  children  had 
gone  off  on  a  moose  hunt  some  days  previous. 


a 


"PUT  FORTH  THY  HAND"      57 

I  led  Billie  by  the  chief's  cabin  without  any 
trouble,  as  the  heavy  wind  was  blowing 
directly  towards  the  old  Indian,  so  the  mule 
didn't  get  the  scent.  Having  passed  by  him  a 
couple  of  hundred  yards,  our  Chief's  voice 
was  heard  above  the  wind  asking  me  to  tether 
Billie,  and  run  back  and  help  him  with 
"Beck,"  a  lady  mule  who  was  wild  with  fright. 
The  old  Indian  chief  and  his  wife  had  in  the 
meantime  come  out  to  the  front  of  their  cabin 
and  "Beck"  had  not  only  seen,  but  scented 
them.  When  I  reached  the  panic-stricken 
mule,  we  found  that  we  needed  even  a  third 
man's  help  before  we  could  get  her  under  con- 
trol, and  then  not  until  we  had  asked  the 
Indians  to  go  back  into  their  cabin — which 
they  graciously  did — could  we  get  her  by.  It 
was  surmised  that  both  Billie  and  Beck  had  in 
their  younger  days  belonged  to  Indians,  and 
perhaps  had  been  cruelly  treated  by  them; 
hence  the  scent  of  an  Indian,  and  particularly 
the  sight  of  one,  drove  them  into  a  frenzy  of 
fear. 

We  now  saw  everywhere  along  the  trail  the 
fresh  signs  of  a  large  grizzly  bear  which  had 
been  tearing  up  gopher  holes,  to  catch,  kill, 
and  eat  these  fat  and  juicy  little  animals, 
which  at  this  time  of  the  year  are  at  their  best. 


58  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

The  amount  of  soil  and  roots  that  had  been 
ripped  up  by  this  one  bear  was  remarkably 
large. 

We  pitched  camp  at  6.30  P.  M.,  having 
covered  thirty-one  miles  for  the  day. 

Next  day  a  drove  of  horses  was  encountered 
and  the  two  men  in  charge  lost  about  ten  out 
of  the  bunch  and  necessarily  had  to  go  back 
after  them. 

Another  Indian  village  was  reached,  but 
not  a  human  being  was  there.  The  inhabit- 
ants, like  those  of  the  other  settlement,  were 
off  on  a  moose  hunt.  Here  we  found  quite  a 
number  of  caches  raised  on  high  poles,  some 
of  them  being  quite  pretentious  affairs,  and  on 
a  mountain  near  by  we  saw  a  grave  covered 
with  a  pretty  little  house,  crowned  with  a 
flag.  The  occupant  of  the  grave  was  a  young 
Indian  girl  eight  years  of  age.  Laid  on 
the  mound  were  some  needlework,  some  beads 
and  thread,  a  piece  of  flannel,  and  a  strip  of 
caribou  hide  for  her  to  embroider  in  the 
happy  hunting  ground.  This  particular  tribe 
of  Indians  take  considerable  pride  in  showing 
respect  to  their  dead. 

On  the  twentieth  we  stopped  for  a  short 
visit  at  the  cabin  of  a  man  who  had  a  month 
previously  bought   from   an    Indian   a   little 


"PUT  FORTH  THY  HAND"      59 

grizzly  bear  cub  which  was  then  but  a  day 
old.  The  Indian  had  killed  the  mother,  then 
captured  the  little  one,  and  sold  it  for  a  trifle. 
The  purchaser  built  a  strong  cage  for  the 
young  stranger  and  had  been  feeding  it  upon 
bread  and  milk  only  until  we  arrived.  One 
of  our  men  had  killed  a  hare,  and  with  the 
blood  dripping  from  it,  some  of  us  thought 
that  we  might  give  it  to  the  cub.  We  did  so 
and  watched  the  result  with  lively  interest. 
Although  the  young  grizzly  had  never  seen 
such  a  thing  in  his  life,  yet  his  instinct  in- 
stantly advised  him  what  to  do,  and  the  savage 
way  in  which  he  tore  that  hare  to  pieces,  ate 
the  flesh,  sucked  the  blood,  crunched  the  bones, 
and  even  ate  the  skin  was  an  object  lesson  to 
us  of  what  a  strong  and  terrible  animal  a  full- 
grown  grizzly  bear  must  be. 

The  wife  of  this  man  (the  owner  of  the  bear 
cub)  was  a  white  woman  from  Montreal.  She 
seemed  to  be  very  lonely  so  far  away  from  her 
mother  and  sister,  and  listened  with  intense 
interest  to  all  that  we  had  to  tell  her  of  the 
doings  of  the  outer  world;  more  particularly 
so  because  I  had  at  one  time  been  in  her  home 
city  and  could  tell  her  something  about  the 
news  from  there,  and  especially  of  the  late 
visit  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Connaught, 


6o  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

the  new  Governor  General  and  his  wife.  She 
brightened  up  greatly  before  our  departure, 
and  if  our  visit  did  nothing  else,  it  gave  her 
something  to  think  about  after  we  were  gone. 
She  told  us  that  the  weather  had  been  very- 
cold  in  that  locality,  and  they  had  only  had 
seven  ''decent"  days  all  summer;  the  balance 
of  the  time  they  suffered  from  high  winds, 
much  rain,  and  extreme  cold  for  that  time  of 
the  year. 

Since  my  arrival  home  a  letter  has  come 
conveying  the  sad  news  of  her  death,  probably 
from  homesickness.  At  the  time  the  letter 
was  sent  her  husband  was  taking  her  out  on  a 
dog-sled,  for  although  she  had  been  ill  twenty 
days  no  medical  aid  could  be  sent  for. 

On  this  day  we  came  to  the  divide  or  sum- 
mit, and  I  took  much  pleasure  in  walking  over 
it,  a  distance  said  to  be  eight  and  a  half  miles. 
At  the  summit  we  found  two  considerable  mo- 
raines that  had  come  from  a  great  glacier  now 
dead  and  extinct.  It  was  a  most  interesting 
thing  to  see  how  the  rocks  had  been  shoved 
and  forced  along  by  the  impact  of  these 
slowly  moving  ice  packs  in  the  ages  that  are 
gone,  and  what  great  power  these  glaciers 
exert  when  they  are  in  the  fulness  of  their 
strength.     Without  seeing  the  effects  of  their 


"PUT  FORTH  THY  HAND"      6i 

work  no  one  can  appreciate  it.  We  after- 
wards found  many  glaciers  on  our  journey, 
and  all  of  them  were  dying — slowly  dying. 

In  the  evening  we  met  a  bright  and  intelli- 
•gent  young  man  of  whom  we  had  heard  much 
before  we  reached  him.  He  held  a  govern- 
ment position,  and  had  a  deal  of  time  on  his 
hands  to  spare.  He  was  an  assiduous  maga- 
zine reader,  boasting  indeed  that  he  took  every 
prominent  magazine  in  the  United  States  but 
•one,  and  that  missing  one  was  "Hearst's  Maga- 
zine." He  was  said  by  our  men  to  take  a 
fiendish  delight  in  picking  out  the  big  words 
occasionally  found  in  the  magazines,  and  com- 
miting  the  same  to  memory.  He  used  these 
words  with  keen  relish,  whether  they  were 
warranted  or  not  by  the  conversation,  on  the 
unfortunate  man  or  men  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact.  As  neither  his  auditors  nor  he 
himself,  perhaps,  knew  the  meaning  of  many 
of  these  almost  impossible  words,  some  of  the 
men  asked  me  if  I  couldn't  "take  a  rise  out  of 
him  when  he  got  a-goin'." 

After  supper  we  sat  down  around  the  camp 
fire  and,  as  he  needed  no  encouragement  to 
start  talking,  he  was  soon  floundering  in  a 
ludicrous  assortment  of  big  words,  some  of 
them  entirely  unfitted  to  the  conversation  he 


62  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

was  indulging  in.  He  went  gaily  along  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  or  so,  when  he  drifted  to 
talk  on  the  subject  of  ornithology  and  soon  be- 
came almost  hopelessly  involved  in  some  clas- 
sical Latin  names.  I  excused  myself  for  in- 
terrupting him,  and  asked  him  what  relation 
the  incident  that  he  was  narrating  had  to  do 
with  "the  hypothenuse  of  a  rectangular  tri- 
angle." 

He  stared  with  wide  open  mouth,  and  was 
undoubtedly  painfully  staggered  for  a  while. 
Then  he  slowly  said  that  he  hadn't  given  any 
thought  to  that  subject  but  that  he  would  at 
once  "take  it  under  consideration." 

Two  of  the  men  were  so  much  overcome 
with  this  "solar  plexus"  blow,  that  they  had  to 
get  up,  "go- away- off,"  and  have  a  laugh  loud 
and  long,  where  he  could  not  hear  them. 

In  spite  of  this  young  man's  harmless  pro- 
pensity for  the  use  of  large  words  he  is  very 
popular  among  the  men  of  the  community. 
He  is  kind-hearted  and  is  helpful  to  every  one 
who  seeks  his  aid  and  advice,  and,  moreover, 
he  is  an  unusually  well-informed  and  interest- 
ing man. 

Early  this  morning  we  saw  a  great  volume 
of  dense  smoke  on  the  very  top  of  a  mountain 
covered  with  timber,  and  near  the  foot  of  the 


u 


"PUT  FORTH  THY  HAND"      63 

same  elevation  another  "big  smoke"  was  in 
sight.  The  two  fires  were  said  to  be  signals 
from  some  Indian  hunters  to  their  squaws 
that  they  had  killed  a  moose;  or,  to  be  exact, 
the  top  fire  was  to  signal  them  to  come — both 
they  and  the  children — as  a  moose  had  been 
killed;  the  lower  one  was  built  close  to  the 
dead  animal,  so  as  to  lead  them  directly  to  the 
carcass. 

When  Indian  braves  have  killed  an  animal, 
they  feel  that  they  have  done  their  work,  and 
depend  upon  the  squaws  to  dress  and  cut  up 
the  meat,  to  cure  it  as  w^ell,  and  then  to  carry 
it  to  their  cache  and  there  deposit  it.  We 
were  advised  that  the  squaws  are  very  partic- 
ular to  empty  the  stomach  of  the  dead  animal 
quickly  of  its  contents.  Then,  after  washing 
it  out  thoroughly  so  that  it  is  absolutely  clean, 
they  catch  all  of  the  blood  that  they  can,  put 
it  into  the  empty  stomach,  and  thus  transport 
it  to  their  camp.  Blood  puddings  are  made 
out  of  it,  and  many  of  them  drink  the  blood 
when  it  is  luke  warm. 

As  the  wind  was  blowing  a  gale  when  the 
fires  were  started,  it  was  not  long  before  they 
spread  into  a  fierce  conflagration,  which 
swept  everything  before  it.  The  smoke  of 
this  sweeping  fiery  furnace  was  seen  for  two 


64  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

days  afterwards,  and  it  burnt  over  a  large  sec- 
tion of  good  and  useful  timber. 

We  met  a  man  who  had  been  a  resident 
guide  on  the  Island  of  Vancouver.  To  us  he 
featured  the  generally  wet  condition  of  the 
woods  there,  the  slimy  bark  on  the  fallen 
trees  and  the  torrential  rains  that  afflict 
that  interesting  island.  He  was  guiding  a 
timber  prospector  through  the  dense  woods 
when  they  came  to  a  deep  canyon  over  which 
a  log  had  fallen.  The  prospector  was  a  stout 
man  and  one  who  liked  to  have  his  own  way. 
The  guide  went  down  to  the  bed  of  the  creek, 
and  advised  the  prospector  to  do  the  same,  for 
it  was  a  dangerous  proceeding  to  walk  over  a 
wet  log,  as  his  foot  was  liable  to  slip.  How- 
ever, the  man  persisted.  His  foot  did  slip, 
and  so  did  the  man,  and  the  fall  broke  three  of 
his  ribs.  He  was  picked  up  and  helped  away 
to  the  city  of  Vancouver  as  fast  as  they  could 

go- 
There  he  found  a  letter  of  considerable  im- 
portance which  caused  him  at  once  to  board  a 
train  for  New  York,  without  waiting  to  have 
any  surgical  attention  paid  to  his  injuries. 
When  he  reached  New  York  he  had  to  be 
taken  to  a  hospital,  where  he  died  in  two  days. 
Being  asked  what  it  was  that  killed  the  man, 


''PUT  FORTH  THY  HAND"      65 

the  guide  said  he  had  "heard  tell  that  his  ribs 
had  gone  bad  on  him."  This  much  and  noth- 
ing more  he  said,  and  yet  it  was  a  sufficient 
and  good  reason  for  the  untimely  fatality. 

At  night,  Tuesday,  the  twenty- first,  we  ar- 
rived in  the  dark  at  the  head  of  a  large  lake. 
Here  we  were  lodged  in  a  cabin  belonging  to 
the  Chief.  The  floor  and  walls  were  covered 
with  skins  of  animals, — caribou,  moose,  wol- 
verine, and  fox  skins. 

Here  our  horses  were  to  go  around  the  lake 
on  a  trail  which  wound  up  and  down  several 
steep  mountains,  while  we  were  to  cross  the 
water  by  a  power  boat.  Louie,  with  another 
man,  was  dispatched  to  take  the  horses  and 
mules  across  a  dangerous  river  where  quick- 
sands abounded,  and  where  the  utmost  care 
had  to  be  taken  not  to  let  either  horse  or  man 
get  into  such  a  critical  locality.  The  horses 
had  to  swim  across  the  stream  which  was  fed 
by  a  great  glacier — the  water,  therefore,  being 
ice-cold.  They  were  led  by  two  men  in 
a  row  boat.  In  some  way  Louie  got  into  the 
quicksands  and  it  was  some  time — even  with 
the  help  of  his  companion — before  he  could 
extricate  himself,  having  sunk  down  in  the 
quicksand  up  to  his  waist. 

A  fine  day  was  frittered  away  at  the  head  of 


66  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

the  lake  without  doing  anything  in  particular. 
From  some  unknown  reason  the  Chief  did  not 
seem  to  care  about  getting  into  the  power  boat 
to  cross  the  forty  miles  to  the  foot  of  the 
lake. 

The  following  morning  the  wind  was  blow- 
ing a  gale,  and  we  loafed  around  until  the  late 
afternoon,  when,  the  wind  having  subsided, 
we  boarded  the  boat  and  were  off  at  last. 

When  a  couple  of  miles  had  been  passed, 
another  storm  arose,  blowing  at  right  angles 
to  the  boat,  and  we  were  forced  to  steer  for  the 
shelter  of  the  lee-shore,  where  we  put  in  an 
hour  waiting  for  the  subsidence  of  the  wind. 
It  was  by  this  time  nearly  dark  and  it  looked 
like  rain.  Some  sail  cloth  was  procured  and 
battened  down  over  our  heads  and  on  each  side 
of  the  boat,  so  that  we  were  sheltered  from  a 
wetting. 

The  threatened  storm  came  quickly  in  the 
form  of  a  squall,  which  blew  the  hissing  water 
over  the  top  of  the  canvas.  The  boat  com- 
menced to  take  water  and  as  there  were  seven 
of  us  in  it,  with  a  considerable  weight  of  sup- 
plies and  dunnage  besides,  for  a  while  it 
looked  dubious  as  to  whether  we  could  get 
across.  To  make  things  worse,  after  a  run  of 
four  hours  we  ran  head  on  upon  a  gravel  bar, 


"PUT  FORTH  THY  HAND"      67 

and  it  was  a  wonder  that  the  boat  did  not  break 
amidship,  from  the  force  of  the  impact  against 
the  sharp  stones.  But  at  last,  when  "the  iron 
tongue  of  midnight  had  tolled  twelve,"  we 
rounded  a  point,  and  ran  alongside  of  a  little 
wharf.  We  mentally  thanked  God  we  were 
safe,  and  near  a  cabin,  in  spite  of  wind,  rain, 
and  a  gravelly  bottom. 

The  sun  rose  bright  and  warm  the  next 
morning,  which  was  the  twenty-fourth  of  Au- 
gust. We  put  in  some  time  fishing  with  the 
fly  for  graylings  in  a  swift  and  rocky-bottomed 
river.  I  had  read  much  about  the  good  qual- 
ities of  this  far-famed  fish,  but  my  anticipa- 
tion of  some  splendid  sport  in  catching  a  mess 
of  them  was  rudely  dispelled  when  one  of 
them  jumped  at  the  fly  and  swallowed  it,  and 
then  calmly  gave  up  the  fight,  actually  swim- 
ming towards  the  shore  so  as  not  to  give  me 
any  trouble  in  hauling  him  out  of  the  water. 
"The  pleasantest  angling  is  to  see  the  fish  cut 
with  her  golden  oars  the  silver  stream,"  but 
the  stream  was  not  silver,  and  the  fish  didn't 
do  any  "cutting" ;  so  I  gave  up  in  disgust. 

The  afternoon  was  spent  in  sitting  with  a 
twenty-two  calibre  rifle  on  the  edge  of  a  pond 
waiting  for  some  wild  ducks  to  drop  in,  but 
none  "dropped."     A  member  of  the  Ashiack 


68  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

tribe  of  Indians,  who  went  by  the  name  of 
"Old  Joe,"  went  with  me.  A  lean,  thin  In- 
dian he  was,  who  in  some  way  managed  to  get 
a  square  meal  every  other  day,  and  by  force  of 
circumstances  had  to  fast  the  balance  of  the 
time.  He  had  helped  a  young  Indian  to  kill 
four  large  bull  moose  having  a  respective 
spread  of  antlers  of  sixty,  sixty-two,  sixty-three 
and  sixty-four  inches,  apparently  in  the  belief 
that  we  would  purchase  the  heads,  even  though 
the  animals  were  killed  out  of  season. 

We  soon  disabused  them  of  their  dream  of 
sudden  riches.  Then  Old  Joe  brought  to  us 
a  hind  quarter  of  moose  meat  which  he  tried 
to  sell  us.  But  we  much  preferred  bacon  and 
eggs  to  the  rump  of  a  bull  moose,  so  there  was 
''nothing  doing"  in  the  way  of  moose  trade. 

We  invited  Joe  to  take  supper  with  us,  and 
we  had  rare  enjoyment  in  watching  him  stow 
away  food.  When  he  had  eaten  all  that  his 
stomach  could  apparently  hold,  he  lay  down 
on  the  ground  without  a  blanket  or  fire,  and 
fell  asleep.  The  next  morning  he  and  the 
hind  quarter  of  moose  were  gone,  and  we  saw 
him  no  more. 


CHAPTER  IV 

A  LOST  MOOSE 

"Night's  candles  were  burnt  out,  and  jocund  day 
Stood  tiptoe  on  the  misty  mountain's  top." 

WE  had  now  journeyed  nearly  two  hun- 
dred miles  through  a  comparatively 
gameless  country.  From  now  on,  however, 
until  we  reached  a  permanent  camp  where  we 
were  to  stay  at  least  two  weeks,  we  would  be 
liable  to  strike  big  game  any  day,  so  said  the 
Chief. 

I  have  always  taken  a  keen  interest  in  bird 
life,  and  hence  was  on  the  lookout  to  note  the 
different  species  of  birds  as  our  journey  pro- 
gressed day  after  day.  I  must  confess  that  I 
was  disappointed  with  the  meager  number 
(outside  of  the  birds  of  prey)  that  we  passed 
in  this  long  stretch  of  territory. 

The  grouse  family,  however,  was  well  rep- 
resented, for  we  saw  many  spruce  grouse,  pin- 
tail prairie  chickens,  willow  ptarmigan,  rock 
ptarmigan,     and     ruffed     grouse.     We    saw 


70  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

plenty  of  surf  scoter  ducks,  mallards,  pintails, 
and  butter  balls. 

Of  birds  of  prey  there  were  a  great  plenty 
and  variety,  including  the  golden  eagle, 
horned  owl,  sharp  shinned  hawk,  pigeon 
hawk,  goshawk,  and  raven. 

Of  small  birds,  the  Alaska  jay,  belted  king- 
fisher, chickadee,  water  ouzel,  water  thrush, 
spotted  sand-piper,  and  one  solitary  Wilson 
snipe  were  seen. 

Of  fur-coated  animals  I,  personally,  saw 
three  silver  foxes,  one  black  fox  (a  real  beauty 
he  was),  two  red  foxes  (both  full  grown  and 
well  furred),  some  weasels  and  red  squirrels, 
myriads  of  gophers,  and  six  grizzly  bears. 

We  had  expected  to  see  a  great  many  whis- 
tling marmots,  but  they  had  all  holed  up  and 
not  one  was  seen.  This  was  quite  a  disap- 
pointment, as  I  had  set  my  heart  on  bringing 
out  enough  of  these  skins  to  make  a  coat. 

We  saw  a  lot  of  porcupines — some  very 
large  ones  indeed.  Of  ovts-stofiei— the  white 
mountain  sheep — a  goodly  number  were  seen, 
but  not  as  many  as  we  had  expected.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  caribou,  moose,  and 
mountain  goat.  We  saw  but  one  of  the  latter 
— a  large  male  goat — which  I  stalked  by 
making  a  laboriously  high  and  difficult  climb. 


A  LOST  MOOSE  71 

and  tried  to  get  by  firing  from  a  very  awk- 
ward position,  partly  lying  on  my  left  side.  I 
missed  him  by  a  foot,  and  he  was  gone  in- 
stantly. The  native  Indians  and  some  of  the 
white  residents  kill  a  large  number  of  sheep 
and  cache  them  for  winter  food. 

At  the  foot  of  the  lake  the  pack  horses  were 
assembled  and  loaded  with  our  dunnage,  am- 
munition, spare  rifles,  and  some  supplies. 
Here  I  first  met  Charley,  the  horse  I  was  to 
ride,  while  Billie  was  sent  off  loaded  with  a 
pack  like  any  common  mule.  The  caravan 
got  away  in  good  time  in  the  early  afternoon. 
After  covering  five  miles  of  travel  we  forded 
a  river,  and  on  the  farther  side  an  almost  per- 
pendicular ridge  loomed  up  before  us.  It 
was  a  novel  sight  to  see  the  mules  and  horses 
zig-zag  their  tortuous  way  up  this  stiff  piece 
of  trail.  With  the  exception  of  one  pack 
which  turned,  all  wxnt  well,  and  when  the 
sun  was  about  to  set  we  pitched  camp  upon  a 
high  elevation,  ate  our  supper,  and  soon  went 
to  sleep. 

The  half  day's  ride  on  Charley,  the  horse, 
was  a  continual  torture.  Changing  the  sad- 
dle was  tried,  and  the  stirrups  were  adjusted 
over  and  over  again,  but  all  to  no  use.  The 
following  day  the  situation  did  not  improve 


72  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

one  iota  and  the  next  day  I  gave  it  up  entirely 
and  made  the  Chief  change  things  around  and 
give  me  Billie  again.  I  was  indeed  glad  to 
mount  Billie  once  more,  as  he  was  as  easy  to 
ride  as  a  rocking-chair,  and  he  was  the  quick- 
est walker  and  the  best  runner  of  the  whole 
bunch  of  animals.  There  was  no  doubt  that 
Charley  was  a  fine  horse,  but  he  had  been  eat- 
ing too  plentifully  of  grass  all  summer  and  his 
body  was  as  round  as  a  barrel. 

The  fourth  day  after  leaving  the  lake  we 
were  given  a  chance  to  see  some  big  game. 
On  one  of  the  high  mountains  a  bunch  of  four 
sheep  was  seen  and  their  immaculately  clean, 
white  coats  looked  handsome  and  unique 
against  the  dark  background  of  some  jack 
pines  near  a  patch  of  green  grass  which  they 
were  feeding  upon.  But  instead  of  being 
rams  with  big  horns,  as  they  appeared  to  us 
when  first  seen,  they  were  only  ewes. 

The  Chief  led  us  across  a  river,  then  up 
stream  for  four  miles,  and  we  plunged  into  a 
rather  thick  forest  of  spruce  and  jack  pines. 
A  slightly  marked  trail  led  us  up  through  the 
timber  belt  at  a  sharp  pitch.  Arrived  at  the 
summit,  we  came  to  a  large  grassy  basin  slop- 
ing down  a  bit  on  all  sides  so  that  in  the  center 
we  found  the  bed  of  a  dried-up  pond.     Here 


Husky  Dogs  ox  the  March 


A  LOST  MOOSE  73 

was  plenty  of  grass  for  the  horses.  They  were 
picketed  and  a  lunch  was  prepared,  a  small 
fire  having  been  kindled  for  boiling  the  mate 
(the  South  American  herb  that  we  were  using 
instead  of  tea).  In  due  time  we  sat  down  to 
a  refreshing  lunch.  The  men  who  smoked  lit 
their  pipes  and  were  just  settling  themselves 
for  a  little  rest,  when  some  one  exclaimed: 
"Look,  oh  look,  did  you  ever  see  such  a 
sight?"  Away  up  on  top  of  the  mountain  that 
we  had  ascended  but  a  little  while  before,  was 
the  biggest  bull  moose  that  I  had  ever  seen 
He  was  running  as  fast  as  he  could  go,  and  in 
a  minute  or  so  had  reached  the  divide  and 
dropped  down  out  of  sight  on  the  other  side. 
There  was  some  quick  mounting  of  steeds  and 
ofif  we  went  at  full  gallop  after  the  moose. 
He  was  too  quick  for  us;  when  we  scaled  the 
summit  he  was  not  to  be  seen,  but  his  tracks 
were  very  plain  and  showed  that  he  had  been 
calmly  feeding  alone  on  some  lily  pads  grow- 
ing in  a  tiny  bit  of  a  lake,  located  in  another 
little  depression  like  the  dried-up  pond  near 
which  we  had  lunched.  He  had  scented  us, 
although  from  where  he  had  rushed  out  of  the 
water  the  distance  was  a  good  mile  from  us. 
and  the  wind  was  not  directly  in  his  favor 
either,  but  it  must  have  made  a  sort  of  angle  as 


74  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

it  swept  around  the  basin  of  the  lake.  We 
followed  his  well-defined  trail  for  some  dis- 
tance, but  failed  to  get  in  sight  of  him 
again. 

We  now  came  in  view  of  a  fine  caribou  bull. 
He  was  on  a  divide  opposite  us  and  standing 
half-way  up  on  the  mountain.  He  was  paw- 
ing the  earth  with  his  fore  feet  and  throwing 
the  soil  over  his  back.  He  was  all  alone,  and 
seemed  to  be  fascinated  vvath  looking  at  our 
horses.  Above  him  a  considerable  distance 
two  ewe  sheep  fed  complacently.  They,  too, 
kept  looking  at  our  horses  with  interest,  and 
seemed  not  to  mind  us.  The  wind  being  in 
our  favor  they  leisurely  took  their  own  time  in 
moving  around  the  mountain's  side  and  thus 
getting  out  of  range. 

It  was  all  in  all  a  really  delightful  introduc- 
tion to  certain  species  of  animals  that  we  ex- 
pected to  hunt  a  few  days  later,  as  it  was  still 
close  time — the  open  season  starting  Septem- 
ber first. 

We  had  some  lively  scrapes  descending  the 
mountain  from  the  front  face  rather  than  from 
the  back.  We  arrived  at  camp  at  lo  P.  Al., 
well  pleased,  indeed,  with  our  first  experience 
in  seeing  sheep,  caribou,  and  bull  moose  in  the 
Upper  Yukon. 


A  LOST  MOOSE  75 

An  early  start  the  following  morning  took 
us  up  the  stony  bed  of  a  tortuous  creek.  We 
saw  a  few  fresh  grizzly  bear  tracks  made  by  a 
mother  and  two  cubs.  The  mother  had  been 
digging  in  gopher  holes  and  evidently  with 
success,  as  a  little  blood  here  and  there  near 
the  mounds  she  had  piled  up  showed  that  she 
had  sent  her  teeth  through  more  than  one 
gopher.  The  wind  being  in  our  favor,  a  keen 
watch  was  kept  upon  her  trail,  yet  we  saw 
nothing  of  her. 

In  the  afternoon  we  passed  through  a  can- 
yon. In  the  ages  that  are  gone  the  present 
stream  flowed  through  a  channel,  the  marks 
of  which  were  plainly  in  sight  on  the  rocky 
face  seventy-two  feet  higher  than  the  one  in 
use  at  present.  One  day  the  pressure  of  water 
from  melting  snow  and  ice  became  so  irre- 
sistibly great  that  a  large  section  of  solid  rock 
was  swept  away,  and  the  broken  rocks  were 
carried  or  shoved  along  in  the  lap  of  the  flood 
and  deposited  miles  below.  But  the  dam  was 
broken,  and  now^  the  stream  tears  through  a 
channel  that  once  was  a  rocky  barrier  seventy- 
two  feet  in  height.  We  camped  at  the  lower 
end  of  the  canyon  for  the  night. 

The  next  day  was  ushered  in  with  a  fierce 
snow  storm  which  came  in  intermittent  gusts 


76  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

of  strong  wind  that  increased  in  velocity  as 
the  day  wore  on. 

Our  tent  was  fairly  well  sheltered  from  the 
worst  of  the  storm  by  the  friendly  willow 
brush,  but  it  was  irksome  to  be  kept  a  prisoner 
in  the  tent.  The  storm  performed  all  kinds  of 
vagaries.  In  the  early  morning  it  brought 
soft  snow,  with  large  flakes;  towards  noon  the 
wind  increased  in  vigor  and  the  flakes  dis- 
appeared, giving  way  to  hail,  which  fairly 
screamed  as  it  rushed  by  us.  At  about  one 
o'clock  it  had  calmed  down  enough  to  war- 
rant a  suggestion  to  the  Chief  of  making  a 
climb  up  the  face  of  the  mountain  directly  in 
front  of  our  camp.  He  shook  his  head,  and 
said  the  storm  was  not  over  by  any  means,  and 
if  we  got  up  on  top  and  it  should  start  to  blow 
again  in  hurricane  fashion  when  we  were  up 
there,  we  might  be  blown  off.  He  was  cau- 
tious enough  to  want  to  wait  until  all  danger 
was  past. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  this  was  the 
last  day  of  August  and  it  seemed  peculiar  to 
us  that  such  a  wild  storm  should  visit  us  this 
early  in  the  season. 

In  the  high  Sierras  of  California  snow 
usually  does  not  fall  until  about  the  end  of 
October  or  early  in  November,  and  then  it 


A  LOST  MOOSE  77 

comes  down  gently  and  soon  melts,  but  this, 
our  first  storm,  started  with  a  dense  darkness 
which  gave  way  to  bright  sunshine  only  to 
have  darkness  again;  storm  succeeded  storm, 
until  all  the  mountains  and  valleys  were 
covered  with  the  white  mantle. 

From  hail,  it  now  came  towards  us  in  the 
form  of  dry  snow-dust,  filling  all  nooks  and 
crannies,  from  which  the  wind  would  pres- 
ently suck  it  out  and  carry  it  up  to  the  sky  line 
like  floating  banners.  Following  this  diver- 
sion it  commenced  to  form  bossy  drifts  that 
were  heaped  up  in  fanciful  pyramids,  making 
a  most  beautiful  panorama  as  the  light  snow- 
dust  circled  about  the  tops  of  the  drifts  like  an 
aerial  whirlpool.  The  sight  was  really  grand 
in  every  way,  and  the  more  I  watched  it  the 
more  anxious  I  was  to  climb  the  mountain  and 
be  really  in  the  storm.  Two  o'clock  had  come 
and  with  it  a  slight  cessation  of  the  wind. 
The  Chief  now  yielded  to  my  request,  and  we 
struck  out  bodily  across  the  dashing  stream, 
soon  reaching  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  and 
the  climb  was  commenced  by  making  a  trail 
in  the  snow  zig-zaging  backwards  and  for- 
wards. 

We  pushed  up  as  fast  as  we  could  go,  stop- 
ping now  and  then  to  breathe.     The   higher 


78  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

we  went  the  grander  the  storm  appeared.  To 
me  it  was  a  gala  day  of  furious  wind  and 
snow,  for  being  on  the  sheltered  side  of  the 
mountain  we  were  safe  from  the  worst  out- 
burst of  its  wrath.  The  valley  which  we  had 
left  below  now  seemed  to  vibrate  with  weird 
musical  sounds  as  the  wind  played  on  the  gi- 
gantic rocks  and  whistled  through  the  narrow 
gap  in  which  the  stream  was  rushing  like  a 
torrent.  Up  and  up  we  went;  fortunately  the 
days  were  long,  and  the  mantle  of  night  was 
not  due  until  ten  of  the  clock.  When  near  the 
top,  one  of  the  frequent  lulls  in  the  storm 
came,  and  "casting  caution  to  the  winds"  we 
climbed  to  the  very  peak,  for,  "as  we  often  see, 
against  some  storm  a  silence  in  the  heavens," 
the  temptation  to  be  at  the  top  was  too  great 
to  withstand. 

A  few  minutes  only  were  granted  to  us  for 
observation,  as  w^e  plainly  saw  the  elements 
gathering  for  another  attack  and  we  hastily 
descended  far  enough  to  reach  the  shelter  of  a 
large  boulder  that  had  a  natural  cavity  in  its 
face,  and  into  this  blessed  haven  of  safety  we 
squeezed  ourselves. 

Now  we  were  safe,  well  sheltered,  and  just 
high  enough  to  see  the  snow  tearing  by  us, 
whistling,  screaming,  and  at  times  roaring,  as 


A  LOST  MOOSE  79 

it  swept  past  driven  by  the  fury  of  the  gale. 
We  only  saw  the  storm,  it  was  not  felt.  What 
few  trees  were  in  sight  bent  themselves  in 
lowly  manner  nearly  to  the  ground,  but  many, 
unable  to  withstand  the  storm  pressure, 
snapped  and  fell  to  earth  like  broken  reeds. 

Where  were  the  birds  and  the  wild  animals 
in  all  of  this  confusion  of  sound  and  whirl  of 
snow?  They  had  "taken  time  by  the  fore- 
lock" and  were  safely  housed  behind  friendly 
shelters.  Although  we  spent  a  full  hour  in 
our  niche  in  the  rock,  not  a  living  thing  was 
to  be  seen.  Oh,  what  an  hour  that  was!  In- 
deed, it  was  one  that  I  shall  never  forget.  It 
was  with  deep  regret  that  I  followed  the  Chief 
down  to  the  bottom  of  the  canyon  once  more, 
but  the  night  was  becoming  most  unnaturally 
dark  and  very  cold,  and  "discretion  being  the 
better  part  of  valor"  we  walked  and  slid,  ran 
and  jumped  from  drift  to  drift,  until  our  tent 
was  reached.  Thus  ended  our  experience 
with  the  great  snow  storm  of  the  Yukon. 

During  the  following  night,  the  storm 
abated  and  a  warm  wind  sprang  up.  In  the 
morning  the  snow  commenced  to  melt  in  the 
valleys  and  melted  faster  than  one  could 
imagine. 

September    first    had    arrived.     Now    we 


8o  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

were  at  liberty  to  hunt  and  kill  the  mountain 
sheep,  and  to  secure  specimens  of  these  most 
interesting  animals,  all  of  course  within  the  re- 
striction of  the  game  laws. 

To  a  hunter  entering  a  new  and  strange 
country  on  which  his  imagination  has  been 
centered  for  several  months— perhaps  years, 
the  first  day  of  the  open  season  is  one  of  prime 
interest.  Will  his  dreams  be  realized?  Will 
his  hopes  be  fulfilled?  Will  the  stories  told 
him  by  guides  and  hunters  prove  true?  Will 
success  be  his  portion?  Now  the  planning  of 
months,  the  travel  of  thousands  of  miles,  and 
the  bringing  into  the  wilderness  of  an  elabo- 
rate equipment  necessitating  the  use  of  a  large 
drove  of  pack  horses,  is  to  be  finally  tested. 

In  the  early  morning  the  Chief  led  the  way 
through  the  canyon  to  a  small  stream  running 
into  the  river  from  the  right.  This  stream 
was  nearly  choked  by  great  rocks  of  different 
shapes    and    sizes    showing   volcanic    origin. 

Around  these  Charley  and  Billie  carefully 
felt  their  way.  The  stream  drained  a  consid- 
erable area  of  bench  land  or  foot  hills.  We 
worked  our  way  through  this  to  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  themselves,  and  followed  a  caribou 
trail  that  turned  sharp  corners  and  twisted  in 
and  around  cliffs,  with  here  and  there  a  spot 


A  LOST  MOOSE  8i 

where  green  grass  was  growing  deep.  By 
eleven  o'clock  we  emerged  on  the  top  of  a 
divide. 

So  far,  no  game  worthy  of  mention  had  been 
seen,  yet  there  was  an  abundance  of  sheep  and 
caribou  tracks  on  the  route  with  an  occasional 
grizzly  bear  trail  to  lend  additional  interest. 
While  the  horses  were  feeding  on  the  few  tufts 
of  grass  to  be  found  on  the  summit,  the  Chief 
and  I  were  scanning  the  horizon  with  glasses. 
For  a  time  no  moving  creature  was  to  be  seen, 
and  things  looked  dubious  for  our  first  day's 
hunt. 

Then  a  young  ram  appeared,  coming  over 
the  edge  of  an  opposite  divide.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  four  more  young  rams,  and  lastly 
came  an  old  ram  with  such  big  horns  that  he 
was  a  giant  in  contrast  with  the  other  five. 
The  Chief  at  once  became  somewhat  excited 
as  he  viewed  "his  majesty"  through  the 
glass. 

"Do  you  feel  like  stalking  that  old  fellow? 
If  we  tackle  him  we'll  have  to  go  down  to  the 
canyon  below,  and  climb  up  over  the  other 
summit,  and  it  will  take  us  three  hours  and  a 
half  at  least,  as  it  will  be  a  hard  climb." 

"Chief,  wherever  you  lead,  I'll  follow,"  I 
replied;  "this  I  mean  in  every  sense  of  the 


82  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

word,  not  only  now  but  until  we  have  finished 
our  hunt." 

"Then  we  go,"  he  said,  and  leading  the 
horse  and  Billic  we  commenced  the  descent  to 
the  canyon.  Over  a  portion  of  the  way  it  was 
so  very  steep  that  our  animals  had  to  nearly 
slide  down. 

After  crossing  the  canyon  our  course,  by 
reason  of  the  wind,  was  to  the  left;  we  were 
to  climb  the  mountain  on  which  the  rams  were 
feeding  by  going  around  it  and  up  by  the 
"back  door"  to  a  level  plateau  on  top.  The 
going  up  was  not  very  bad,  until  we  had 
climbed  say  two  thousand  to  twenty-five  hun- 
dred feet,  and  all  of  this  distance  was  done  in 
the  saddle.  Here  the  side  of  the  mountain 
was  very  precipitous,  with  a  sheer  uninter- 
rupted slope  down  to  the  bottom.  This  slope 
was  mostly  of  soft  earth,  with  here  and  there 
a  flat  stone  clinging  to  its  face.  We  came  to 
a  place  where  there  was  a  long  overhanging 
shelf  of  rock,  and  directly  under  this  the  Chief 
rode  Charley  carefully,  on  the  very  edge  of 
the  steep  decline.  I  took  good  care  not  to 
look  down  the  slope,  but  to  keep  my  eyes 
focused  on  the  tops  of  Billie's  long  ears.  All 
went  well  until  a  sharp  turn  was  made  to  the 
right.     A  step  before  this  turn  was  taken,  we 


A  LOST  MOOSE  83 

saw  a  large  flat  rock  with  a  round  bottom  hav- 
ing a  weight  of  perhaps  fifty  pounds.  Char- 
ley placed  his  left  fore-foot  carefully  on  this 
rock  before  putting  his  whole  weight  upon  it. 
It  held  firm;  he  made  just  one  step  more, 
turned  the  corner,  and  was  lost  to  my  sight. 
When  Billie  reached  the  rock  he  also  placed 
his  left  front  foot  on  it.  At  the  first  impact 
of  the  foot  it  held,  but  when  Billie's  whole 
weight  was  placed  upon  it,  it  slipped  from 
under  him. 

A  mule  in  such  a  situation  as  this  is  as  quick 
as  the  proverbial  lightning,  and  Billie  did  the 
only  thing  that  he  could  do — he  lifted  his  foot 
like  a  flash  from  the  sliding  rock,  jabbing  it 
down  into  the  round  hole  which  the  rock  had 
left  exposed.  This  naturally  threw  the  mule 
to  the  left  with  a  sharp,  sudden  jerk,  but  fortu- 
nately I  had  my  right  knee  tightly  pressed 
against  his  side.  For  a  second  I  thought  Bil- 
lie and  I  would  surely  go  over  the  precipice 
(and  if  so,  I  should  never  have  lived  to  tell 
this  tale),  but  he  held  his  ground  firmly,  and 
the  next  step  we  also  turned  the  corner,  Billie 
appearing  as  calm  and  as  placid  as  if  by  his 
adroitness  he  had  not  just  saved  himself  and 
his  rider.  My  heart  was  very  thankful  to 
him,  and  I  leaned  over  and  patted  him  on  the 


84  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

neck  and  told  him  what  I  thought  of  him. 

To  the  Chief  I  said  never  a  word  of  our 
narrow  escape.  This  was  the  first  day,  mind 
you,  and  it  would  have  looked  bad  to  start  it 
with  the  tale  of  a  hair-breadth  escape  before 
even  a  shot  had  been  fired. 

The  plateau  having  been  reached,  we  rode 
slowly  towards  the  edge  of  the  mountain. 
Our  cook,  for  certain  reasons  of  his  own,  had 
brought  with  him  a  husky  dog  that  was  three 
parts  wolf.  This  animal,  unknown  to  us,  had 
followed  along,  like  his  forebears  circling 
from  side  to  side  of  the  trail,  seldom,  if  ever, 
traveling  in  a  straight  line,  and  often,  when 
reaching  a  place  where  deep  grass  grew, 
crawling  on  his  belly.  He  had  no  business 
with  us,  and  his  near  presence  and  scent  made 
Billie  nervous.  For  a  while  we  could  not  ac- 
count for  the  mule's  actions.  We  stopped  to 
look  around,  thinking  that  an  Indian  might  be 
approaching  or  that  a  grizzly  bear  was  in  the 
vicinity.  When  the  skulking  dog  was  dis- 
covered, he  was  crawling  through  the  grass 
and  Billie  promptly  went  up  on  his  hind  feet. 
The  Chief  at  once  dismounted,  picked  up 
some  stones,  and  pelted  the  dog  so  that  he 
turned  and  ran  away. 

The  horse  and  mule  now  were  tethered,  and 


.'i  *"  ■  .     JlA>--  -■ 


i 


A  LOST  MOOSE  85 

we  commenced  to  pick  our  way  to  the  face  of 
the  mountain  to  look  for  the  rams.  When 
near  the  edge  a  commotion  was  heard  in  our 
rear.  On  looking  back  Billie  was  discovered 
with  his  rope  twisted  and  trying  to  jump  over 
Charley.  The  wolf-dog  had  returned  and 
was  the  active  cause  of  this  commotion.  The 
Chief  resorted  to  firing  stones  at  him  once 
more.  One  of  them  hit  him,  and  away  he 
went  howling  and  barking  as  if  he  was  injured 
for  life.  This  unusual  uproar  would  cer- 
tainly startle  the  rams,  and  I  therefore  ran  as 
fast  as  I  could  to  the  edge  of  the  precipice 
and,  lying  down  flat,  looked  over.  I  saw  the 
six  rams  running  here  and  there  in  wild  alarm, 
caused  by  the  howling  of  the  wolf-dog.  The 
big  ram  happened  to  be  the  farthest  away,  and 
although  I  was  badly  blown  by  the  fast  run- 
ning, I  opened  fire  at  once  without  waiting  to 
get  calmed  down.  The  first  shot  was  a  clean 
miss,  but  it  changed  the  ram's  course  and  he 
now  ran  towards  me.  The  second  bullet  hit 
him  back  of  the  shoulder,  but  he  turned  again 
to  run  straight  down  the  mountain.  The  third 
bullet  was  another  clean  miss;  the  fourth  hit 
him  in  the  paunch,  and  once  again  turned 
him.  The  fifth  was  also  a  miss.  Now  he  was 
running  down  hill  at  a  fairly  good  pace,  but 


86  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

tottering  from  side  to  side.  The  sixth  and 
last  bullet  was  a  fatal  shot.  As  he  ran 
straight  away  from  me  the  bullet  hit  him 
astern  and  he  went  head  over  heels,  rolling 
down  the  mountain  until  he  was  caught  in  a 
*'draw." 

I  could  not  help  shouting  out  in  my  excite- 
ment over  killing  the  first  big  ram  I  had  ever 
seen,  and  that  too  on  the  first  day  of  the  open 
season.  While  the  shooting  had  necessarily 
been  wild,  yet  under  the  peculiarly  unfavor- 
able circumstances,  I  could  not  but  feel  that 
my  success  was  an  omen  of  good  luck  for  the 
future.  The  Chief  was  profuse  in  his  praise 
of  my  coolness  in  the  shooting,  and  said  that 
either  of  the  first  two  hits  would  have  proved 
fatal  in  a  few  minutes,  even  if  the  last  one 
had  not  bowled  him  over.  We  reached  camp 
that  night  long  after  the  others  had  gone  to 
rest,  yet  there  was  but  little  sleep  for  me  be- 
cause the  remarkable  incidents  of  the  hunt  and 
the  attendant  excitements  had  to  be  gone  over 
again  and  again  in  my  mind's  eyes. 


CHAPTER  V 

AN   EXCITING  CARIBOU   HUNT 
"Uninhabitable  and  almost  inaccessible  is  the  land." 

THE  section  of  the  country  in  which  we 
were  hunting  is  the  home  of  the  Os- 
borni  caribou,  a  species  distinct  from  the 
Woodland  and  the  Barrenland  caribou,  and 
we  were  anxious  to  secure  our  quota  of  these 
noted  animals.  The  bull  caribou,  when  we 
first  saw  them,  were  hiding  by  themselves 
away  from  the  cows  and  calves,  and  were 
always  found  in  secluded  places.  I  have 
already  mentioned  seeing  one  fine  bull  all 
alone  before  the  open  season  had  arrived. 

For  several  days  after  September  first,  we 
frequently  saw  the  cows  and  calves  feeding 
by  themselves,  but  the  bulls  were  not  to  be 
seen  at  all.  There  came  a  day,  however, 
when  we  found  four  large  bulls  herded  to- 
gether on  a  divide  opposite  one  that  we  had 
been  exploring.  They  were  seen  in  the  deep 
snow  on  the  top  of  the  mountain  and  seemed 
to  be  interested  in  watching  our  mounts.     A 


88  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

careful  descent  was  made  and,  the  wind  being 
right  when  the  canyon  was  crossed,  we  left 
Charley  and  Billie  tethered  in  a  spot  covered 
with  rich  grass,  and  commenced  the  climb  on 
foot,  going  up  on  the  right  side  of  the  moun- 
tain, as  it  looked  the  easiest  to  climb.  The 
going  was  fairly  good  until  the  deep  snow  was 
reached,  and  then  we  slipped  and  stumbled 
— sometimes  sliding  down  more  than  we 
climbed.  We  did  not  expose  ourselves  to 
the  quarry  when  the  top  was  nearly  won,  but 
by  going  around  and  behind  a  ledge  of  rocks 
we  managed  to  rise  above  where  we  had  ex- 
pected to  find  the  animals.  However,  they 
had  fled.  Their  tracks  in  the  snow  showed 
that  we  should  find  them  down  on  the  other 
side  of  the  divide.  Cautiously  dodging  be- 
hind rocks  as  we  followed  the  trail,  we  finally 
located  them  near  the  top  of  still  another 
divide,  out  of  range  of  a  Mannlicher  rifle.  If 
they  should  succeed  in  crossing  the  second 
range,  we  would  lose  them  altogether,  as  the 
conformation  of  the  ground  would,  if  we  fol- 
lowed them,  bring  them  in  line  with  our  scent. 
I  told  the  Chief  that  the  only  chance  to  bring 
them  to  a  halt  and  probably  to  start  them 
back  down  the  elevation  rather  than  over  it, 
was  to  fire  a  few  shots.     This  I  did.     The 


AN  EXCITING  CARIBOU  HUNT     89 

sound  of  the  exploding  bullets  reverberated 
among  the  mountains  and  completely  puzzled 
the  bulls,  as  they  stopped  and  looked  in  all 
directions.  Then  they  commenced  to  retrace 
their  steps,  coming  directly  towards  us  and 
keeping  a  sharp  lookout  all  the  while.  Un- 
doubtedly they  were  suspicious,  and  not  quite 
sure  that  the  enemy  was  behind  them,  as  the 
reverberations  had  seemed  to  indicate.  They 
walked  down  a  few  hundred  yards  slowly 
and  carefully,  stopping  frequently  to  watch 
and  to  listen.  A  patch  of  green  grass  was 
reached.  They  began  to  nibble  this  luscious 
and  tender  salad.  In  this  occupation  they 
seemed  to  forget  their  fright  and  the  sound 
of  the  shots,  and  set  to  feeding  in  real  earnest. 
Up  to  this  time  we  had  been  hiding  behind 
a  rock  quite  a  bit  to  the  right  of  their  line 
of  probable  descent.  Taking  advantage  of 
their  enjoyment  of  the  noon-day  feed  (it  was 
now  after  one  o'clock)  we  worked  to  the  left, 
dodging  from  rock  to  rock,  until  we  came  to 
the  back  of  a  round  butte.  This  we  carefully 
climbed  from  the  rear.  When  we  were  able 
to  peer  over  the  top  of  the  butte,  the  caribou 
bulls  were  not  in  sight.  We  felt  nonplussed 
at  this,  and  could  not  understand  how  we  had 
lost  them.     With  the  glasses  the  snow  was 


90  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

industriously  scanned,  and  what  do  you  think 
we  discovered  had  happened?  They  had 
come  directly  down  the  decline,  so  that  they 
must  be  almost  under  us  at  the  base  of  the 
butte.  Crawling  to  the  very  top  of  the  pin- 
nacle and  then  dragging  myself  on  the  snow 
to  the  far  edge,  I  saw  them  lying  down  almost 
directly  beneath  us.  They  had  cleared  the 
snow  away  with  their  feet,  and  were  resting 
and  taking  things  easy. 

The  Chief  having  also  climbed  up,  we  de- 
cided which  were  the  best  two  in  the  bunch 
and  I  got  ready  to  shoot.  Two  were  lying  on 
their  sides  with  their  backs  to  us,  and  they 
were  the  ones  I  wanted ;  the  remaining  two 
were  facing  the  butte.  It  was  an  awkward 
shot  to  make,  as  it  was  almost  a  straight  drop 
of  eight  hundred  to  nine  hundred  feet  to  the 
foot  of  the  butte.  Aiming  carefully,  I  fired 
at  my  first  choice.  He  was  up  and  ofif  in  a 
jiffy,  running  around  the  right  side  of  the 
butte  and  so  past  us.  The  three  remaining 
animals  also  sprang  up,  and  were  off,  too,  but 
I  bowled  over  the  second  one  with  the  next 
shot.  I  then  turned  to  look  for  the  first  one 
and  a  trail  of  blood  was  seen  on  the  white 
snow  spattered  about  on  both  sides  of  his 
tracks,  showing  where  he  had  run  up  the  in- 


AN  EXCITING  CARIBOU  HUNT     91 

cline.  A  hundred  yards  or  so  up  the  hill  he 
was  seen  lying  dead. 

Having  taken  my  eyes  off  the  second  one, 
who  had  fallen,  to  follow  the  route  of  the 
first  one  around  the  right  of  the  butte,  I  now 
turned  back  to  the  second.  To  my  amaze- 
ment he  was  nowhere  to  be  seen ;  then  he  sud- 
denly appeared  almost  at  our  feet,  rapidly 
climbing  the  butte.  This  was  a  complete  sur- 
prise, as  I  had  counted  him  as  being  dead. 
His  bolt  was  of  short  duration,  however,  for 
when  he  got  so  close  to  us  that  we  could  al- 
most touch  him  with  the  rifle,  he  slipped  and 
fell,  rolling  over  and  over  until  he  landed 
at  the  bottom — dead  for  sure.  This  feat 
of  his  showed  with  what  strong  muscular  ac- 
tion these  animals  are  gifted.  The  bullet  had 
passed  through  the  heart  and  its  force  had 
knocked  him  over,  yet  he  had  risen  and  made 
a  rush  up  the  face  of  the  butte  where  the  snow 
was  at  least  a  foot  deep. 

In  1906,  I  made  a  shot  at  a  fine  buck  deer 
on  my  own  grounds  in  the  Maine  woods. 
The  buck  was  standing  broadside  on,  two 
hundred  and  thirty  paces  away,  and  close  to 
a  dead-fall  of  trees  five  feet  high.  When  the 
bullet  struck  he  cleared  the  dead-fall  as  easily 
as  an  expert  jumper  would  get  over  a  four-foot 


92  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

fence,  and  with  one  bound,  started  down  the 
road,  and  then  swung  to  the  left  up  a  ridge.  I 
found  him  there,  dead,  and  on  opening  him  it 
was  seen  that  the  bullet  had  passed  directly 
through  the  heart,  tearing  it  all  to  pieces;  yet 
he  had  cleared  the  dead-fall,  and  run  one  hun- 
dred and  seventeen  yards  to  where  he  was 
found. 

So,  after  all,  the  two  shots  at  the  two  cari- 
bou had  been  well  placed.  Both  bulls  were 
very  fat.  They  were  carrying  a  deep  layer 
of  suet  on  their  shoulders,  as  well  as  a  con- 
siderable quantity  on  their  intestines.  I 
have  been  told  that,  during  the  mating  sea- 
son, the  bulls  do  not  eat  a  morsel  of  food,  but 
live  on  this  generous  accumulation  of  fat 
which  nature  stores  up  for  them.  In  other 
words,  they  live  upon  their  own  tissues  dur- 
ing that  time,  which  is  divided  in  two  equal 
periods ;  nine  days  of  solicitation  and  nine  days 
of  participation. 

It  may  be  readily  surmised  that  before  we 
had  gotten  the  bulls  skinned,  dressed,  and 
fixed  up  where  we  could  come  for  or  send 
after  them  the  following  day,  the  daylight 
was  nearly  over.  We  hurried  through  the 
snow,  over  the  divide,  and  down  the  other 
side  into  the  canyon,  where  we  found  Char- 


AN  EXCITING  CARIBOU  HUNT     93 

ley  and  Billie  standing  waiting  patiently  for 
us.  Billie  by  this  time  had  come  to  know  my 
voice,  and  w^hen  I  spoke  to  him  and  patted 
him  on  the  neck,  he  showed  that  he  was  well 
pleased  to  see  me.  I  had  already  made  it  a 
point  always  to  have  some  little  tid-bit  in 
the  saddle  bag  to  give  him  on  my  return 
from  an  excursion  away  from  him.  In  the 
mornings  before  starting  I  would  get  from 
the  cook  a  few  pancakes,  or  a  mutton  chop, 
or  a  few  stale  buns.  He  would  eat  anything 
but  raw  meat,  and  it  was  interesting  to  see 
how  he  enjoyed  the  mutton  chops,  crushing 
the  bones  with  his  teeth  as  easily  as  if  they 
were  sticks  of  candy.  In  the  end  this  sort 
of  treatment  made  Billie  and  me  great  friends, 
and  he  was  so  intelligent  that  he  almost 
seemed  to  sense  what  he  ought  to  do,  and  then 
act  without  being  told. 


CHAPTER  VI 

URSUS  HORRIBILIS 

"Oh  well  I  mind,  Oh  well  I  mind, 
Tho'  now  my  locks  are  snow 
How  oft  Langsyne  I  sought  to  find 
What  made  the  bellows  blow! 
How  cuddling  on  my  Grannie's  knee, 
I  questioned  night  and  da3% 
And  still  the  thing  that  puzzled  me 
Was  where  the  wind  came  frae." 

—  Burns. 

TAKING  two  men  and  two  extra  horses 
with  us  to  bring  in  the  carcases  of  the 
two  bull  caribou  which  I  had  shot,  w^e  were 
ofif  early  in  the  morning  of  the  eighth  of  Sep- 
tember. We  had  gone  a  distance  of  five  miles 
along  the  river  bottom  and  had  passed  the 
mouth  of  a  large  tributary  that  enters  into 
the  river  at  right  angles  to  it,  w^hen  the  Chief 
with  his  keen  eyesight  saw  a  dark  object  near 
the  center  of  a  high  mountain  on  the  right- 
hand  bank  of  the  tributary. 

For  a  few  minutes  the  object  did  not  move, 
but  when  it  did  it  was  easily  seen  to  be  a  sil- 


URSUS  HORRIBILIS  95 

ver-tipped  grizzly  bear  busily  engaged  in 
digging  out  gophers.  The  wind  was  in  our 
favor  and  the  distance  to  be  traveled  before 
getting  within  range  would  be  perhaps  four 
miles.  The  Chief  gave  instructions  to  the 
men  as  to  where  the  two  caribou  killed  the 
day  before  would  be  found,  and  the  route  to 
reach  them;  then  we  parted  company,  the 
Chief  and  I  riding  away  to  try  our  luck  at 
getting  a  shot  at  the  grizzly. 

It  was  necessary  to  climb  from  the  river 
bed  to  a  plateau  where  much  willow  brush 
was  growing  and,  behind  this  friendly  screen 
of  brush,  to  follow  a  line  parallel  with  the 
stream  for  a  good  three  miles.  Then  we 
crossed  the  water  and,  after  proceeding  cau- 
tiously along  the  base  of  the  mountain  on 
which  the  bear  was  working,  we  tethered  the 
horse  and  mule  and  commenced  the  stalk.  It 
was  half  an  hour  before  we  came  in  sight  of 
Bruin,  and  he  was  still  busily  engaged  in  dig- 
ging out  gophers.  The  wind  at  this  time  was 
blowing  with  considerable  force  directly  to- 
wards us  with  the  much-coveted  quarry  nearly 
a  mile  away. 

We  now  found  it  necessary,  in  order  not 
to  be  seen,  to  keep  in  line  with  the  rocks  and 
the  occasional  bunches  of  willow  brush,  dodg- 


96  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

ing  from  one  bit  of  cover  to  another.  It  was 
interesting  when  stopping  for  breath  in  the 
hard  stiff  ascent  to  watch  the  bear  at  work. 
When  he  commenced  digging  at  a  new 
gopher  hole,  he  would  work  away  leisurely 
for  a  few  minutes,  presumably  until  he  heard 
his  prey  either  running  or  uttering  its  pecu- 
liar little  bark.  Then  the  big  animal  would 
get  into  a  fever  of  excitement,  tearing  away 
the  soil,  stones,  and  roots  as  if  he  had  a  per- 
sonal animosity  for  these  inanimate  things 
that  kept  him  away  from  his  luscious  break- 
fast. Where  no  rocks  or  roots  interfered 
with  his  digging,  he  would  throw  the  soil 
up  quickly,  very  soon  making  quite  a  hum- 
mock of  earth.  We  were  too  far  away  to 
hear  the  agonized  bark  or  yelp  of  the  fated 
gopher  when  he  was  finally  caught,  but  once 
we  imagined  that  we  saw  the  bear  crunch  his 
prey  with  his  powerful  jaws  and  swallow  the 
gopher  almost  instantly. 

By  one  of  those  peculiar  vagaries  which 
frequently  occur  in  this  section  of  God's 
earth,  the  wind  suddenly  changed.  As  soon 
as  we  realized  this  we  literally  "threw  dis- 
cretion to  the  winds"  and  made  a  dash  to  get 
within  fair  shooting  range. 

Alas  for  us!    Bruin  had  already  gotten  our 


URSUS  HORRIBILIS  97 

scent,  and  without  looking  around  to  see  us, 
or  hesitating  a  second,  he  was  off  as  fast  as 
his  enormous  strength  could  carry  him.  He 
was  much  too  far  for  a  shot,  and  nothing  could 
be  done  but  to  watch  his  swiftly  disappearing 
form. 

There  was  a  deep  "draw"  on  the  left-hand 
side  of  the  mountain  yet  farther  on.  His 
first  break  was  for  this  draw,  and  once  in  this 
shelter  he  lost  no  time  in  getting  to  the  top 
of  the  divide.  He  then  showed  himself  but 
for  a  second,  running  to  the  left  along  the 
peak;  then  he  disappeared  down  the  other 
side  and  we  lost  him  for  good.  If  the  wind 
had  but  held  steady  for  fifteen  minutes  more, 
I  most  certainly  would  have  had  a  shot,  but, 
alas!  it  didn't  and  that  was  all  there  was  to  it. 

Remembering  that  disappointments  come 
in  other  pursuits  besides  hunting,  we  made 
the  best  of  a  bad  thing  by  crossing  the  draw 
and  following  up  the  other  mountain.  We 
worked  around  a  large,  rocky  protuberance 
that  made  us  wonder  how  it  had  ever  gotten 
there,  and  how  it  stayed  without  sliding  down 
to  the  stream  below.  Here  we  saw  three 
rams  in  a  picturesque  position  near  the  apex 
of  the  mountain.  Their  horns  seemed  at  first 
to  be  of  a  uniform  size,  and  as  they  stood 


98  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

abreast  looking  down  upon  us  with  the  curi- 
osity natural  to  them,  they  presented  a  most 
beautiful  sight.  A  hundred  paces  above  the 
large  rock  around  which  we  came  was  yet 
another  rock,  and  crawling  to  this  on  hands 
and  knees  we  were  out  of  their  line  of  vision. 
In  due  time  we  peered  over  the  edge  of  this 
friendly  protection,  and  the  rams,  standing 
like  statues,  watched  us.  The  ram  to  the  left 
looked  to  be  the  best.  The  one  in  the  center 
the  next  best,  and  the  one  to  the  right  the 
poorest;  yet  they  were  all  fine  rams.  The 
center  one  was  standing  on  a  boulder,  while 
behind  him  was  yet  another  boulder  that  tow- 
ered above  his  head,  so  that  he  looked  as  if 
he  was  standing  upon  a  huge  stone  settee. 
The  distance  between  us  was  too  great  to 
guarantee  a  successful  shot,  yet  knowing  that 
our  quarry  would  bolt  the  moment  we  left 
our  shelter,  I  decided  to  try  to  hit  the  one  on 
the  left.  With  the  sight  on  the  rifle  raised 
to  three  hundred  yards,  I  took  a  long  and 
careful  aim  at  this  ram,  resting  the  rifle  on  the 
rock  while  I  lay  down  behind  it.  The  shot 
was  a  clean  miss,  although  it  must  have  al- 
most grazed  him,  as  after  the  shot  he  was 
quickly  off  for  good. 

The  next  shot  was  made  at  the  one  stand- 


•     V.        i: 


URSUS  HORRIBILIS  99 

ing  on  the  rock,  which  was  broadside  on. 
We  distinctly  saw  the  bullet  strike  the  rock 
behind  him,  making  a  flying  shower  of  dust 
and  sand.  The  Chief  said:  "You  are  over- 
shooting; you  hit  the  rock  behind  and  above 
him."  I  then  fired  the  third  shot  at  the  ram 
on  the  right,  but  again  missed,  and  he  disap- 
peared over  the  top  of  the  peak. 

But  to  my  intense  surprise  the  center  ram 
had  not  bolted  at  all.  He  now  sprang  or 
tumbled  off  the  rock,  and  commenced  to  roll 
down  the  steep  mountain  side,  soon  lodg- 
ing in  the  draw.  When  we  came  out  from 
our  rocky  shelter  and  commenced  to  go  up 
after  the  dead  ram,  we  realized  what  a  long 
and  steep  climb  was  before  us.  The  Chief 
went  ahead  zigzagging,  driving  his  big  hob- 
nailed shoes  into  the  sliding  soil.  Follow- 
ing him  I  placed  my  feet  in  his  tracks 
until  the  ascent  became  too  steep  even  for 
that.  Then  lying  down  flat,  by  the  aid  of 
some  small  bunches  of  willow  brush  we  drew 
ourselves  up  several  yards  and  across  to  the 
draw,  up  which  we  finally  were  enabled  to 
reach  the  ram.  He  had  fallen  head  down, 
and  to  prevent  the  blood  from  getting  around 
his  head  and  scalp,  which  would  ruin  it  for 
mounting,  it  was  necessary  to  turn  him  so  that 


loo  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

his  head  would  be  up.  This  took  much  time 
and  care,  as  we  were  in  peril  of  slipping  down 
to  the  bottom  of  the  draw  because  of  the  sharp 
and  easily  moved  small  stones  that  coated  the 
surface  of  the  mountain. 

On  dissecting  the  ram,  we  found  that  the 
bullet  had  gone  through  the  heart,  and,  pass- 
ing through  the  body,  had  struck  the  big  stone 
behind  him.  This  accounted  for  our  seeing 
the  missile  hit  the  rock.  When  the  head  was 
removed,  the  balance  of  the  carcase  was  al- 
lowed to  roll  all  the  way  down  to  the  foot 
of  the  mountain. 

Carefully  picking  our  way  down  by  using 
our  upward  tracks,  we  counted,  as  well  as  the 
situation  would  permit,  the  number  of  paces 
it  was  from  where  the  ram  fell  to  the  rock  I 
shot  from.  It  seemed  almost  impossible  of 
belief  that  the  distance  was  no  less  than  eight 
hundred  paces,  and  yet  both  of  us  reached  the 
same  calculation.  If  we  were  only  fairly  cor- 
rect in  our  measurement,  it  will  show  what 
a  wonderful  weapon  the  new  8  M  Mannlicher 
rifle  is  to  carry  a  bullet  almost  vertically  and 
kill  at  that  distance. 

The  Chief  was  so  much  impressed  with  the 
incident  that  he  promised  to  send  official  no- 
tice to  the  Geographical  Department  of  the 


URSUS  HORRIBILIS  loi 

Territorial  Government,  together  with  the 
location  of  this  mountain,  asking  that  the 
mountain  be  registered  on  the  map  as  "Mount 
Martindale." 

As  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  mountains  and 
streams  are  named,  the  department  is  more 
than  pleased  to  comply  with  such  a  request. 
In  this  way  we  already  have  Potter  Moun- 
tain, called  after  Mr.  Wilson  Potter,  who 
killed  a  goat  on  that  mountain  under  pe- 
culiar difficulties.  There  are  also  Havermyer 
Mountain  and  Disston  Mountain,  named  for 
similar  reasons. 

Some  days  after  this,  my  companion  also 
shot  a  ram  up  a  precipitous  mountain,  the 
dead  animal  rolling  down  quite  a  piece  until  it 
bounced  over  a  rock  a  distance  of  fifty  feet 
into  a  swiftly  running  stream,  necessita- 
ting a  trip  of  nearly  a  mile  to  secure  it. 
This  mountain  is  to  be  called  Lewis  Moun- 
tain. 

The  Ashiack  tribe  of  Indians,  inhabiting 
and  hunting  in  this  section  of  the  Yukon  Ter- 
ritory, have  a  superstition  against  either  going 
close  to,  or  climbing  over,  a  glacier.  They 
tell  a  story  of  an  Indian  brave  and  an  Indian 
maiden,  who,  against  the  admonitions  of  the 
medicine  man,  attempted  to  defy  this  super- 


I02  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

stition  by  ascending  the  famous  '^Nazarhat" 
Glacier,  which  in  one  portion  of  it  has  a  deep 
depression  or  cavity.  The  pair  of  lovers  met 
with  no  difficulties  whatever  until  from  the 
top  of  the  rim  they  looked  down  into  the  won- 
ders of  this  ''big  hole."  They  were  then 
speedily  entranced,  and  became  rooted  to  the 
spot.  Neither  of  them  being  able  to  break 
the  spell,  they  were  both  frozen  to  death,  as 
they  were  incapable  of  flight.  Their  bodies 
were  soon  turned  into  gigantic  pillars  of  ice, 
which  remain  to  this  day  as  everlasting  monu- 
ments to  warn  all  Indians  from  defying  the 
stern  decrees  of  "the  Great  Spirit."  Thus 
runs  the  legend,  and  for  this  reason  the  Indi- 
ans give  a  wide  birth  to  glaciers. 

For  several  days  we  had  been  hunting  in 
the  close  neighborhood  of  a  glacier  which 
formerly  filled  a  huge  gorge  shaped  like  an 
inverted  letter  "V,"  but  which  has,  during  the 
ages  since  its  creation,  been  slowly  shrinking, 
so  that  now  it  forms  a  gap  through  which  flow 
the  warm  south  winds  from  the  coast — dis- 
tant say  eighty  miles.  The  well-marked 
trails  of  caribou  and  mountain  sheep  on  the 
snow  covering  this  glacier  could  easily  be 
seen  from  the  top  of  other  mountains. 
Without     expressing     the     desire,     I     often 


URSUS  HORRIBILIS  103 

thought  I  should  like  to  climb  this  glacier 
and  go  down  the  other  side. 

One  day,  after  a  very  long  stalk  of  a  big 
bull  caribou,  we  found  ourselves  late  in  the 
afternoon  quite  close  to  this  glacier.  Then, 
in  turning  the  foot  of  a  steep  mountain,  we 
saw  at  the  head  of  a  draw  a  band  of  seven 
large  rams,  one  of  them  having  an  exception- 
ally fine  head. 

They  were  on  a  narrow  ledge  of  hard  rock, 
which  extended  along  the  tops  of  three  other 
draws,  making  a  sort  of  aerial  sheep-walk.  A 
careful  survey  of  the  situation  showed  us  that 
as  the  wind  was,  we  could  not  get  at  them 
from  the  rear.  They  must  be  approached 
from  the  front,  and  in  full  view.  The  Chief 
suggested  tethering  the  horses  where  they 
could  be  plainly  seen.  Then  he  would  cross 
over  to  the  third  draw  to  the  left,  and  climb 
up  that  draw  as  fast  as  possible,  while  I 
climbed  the  face  of  the  mountain.  When 
the  sheep  finally  turned  and  ran,  he  believed 
they  would  run  to  the  left  over  the  elevated 
sheep-walk.  Then  I  was  to  climb  quickly 
and  get  behind  a  rock  that  was  located  about 
half-way  up.  The  Chief  would  fire  a  shot 
when  they  arrived  at  the  far  draw,  and  thus 
turn  them  back  again.     This  was  done  and 


104  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

worked  out  to  perfection.  When  the  Chief's 
shot  was  fired,  I  had  already  gotten  to  the 
rock,  behind  which  I  kneeled,  resting  the  rifle 
on  its  edge. 

I  had  just  a  little  time  to  quiet  down  and 
give  my  lungs  a  rest  after  the  exertion  of  the 
climb,  when  the  rams  came  pouring  over  the 
draw.  Numbers  one,  two,  and  three  ran  to 
the  right  and  disappeared;  next  came  the 
grand  big  fellow  of  the  bunch,  running  at  a 
remarkably  fast  pace.  I  aimed  directly  at 
the  back  of  his  head — the  bullet  struck  him 
on  the  right  fore-shoulder,  going  through  to 
the  left  shoulder  and  making  a  fatal  shot.  He 
rolled  down  until  stopped  by  a  rock  half-way 
between  us.  It  was  a  long  shot  and  one  that 
the  Chief  praised  much,  on  account  of  the 
great  speed  with  which  the  ram  was  going, 
and  because  of  the  high  elevation  of  the 
quarry. 

To  get  up  to  the  ram,  dress  him,  and  mount 
him  on  Charley,  took  considerable  time,  and 
now  we  were  confronted  with  the  fact  that  we 
were  twenty-five  miles  from  the  camp  and  it 
would  soon  be  night.  Besides  this,  a  hot  wind 
had  been  blowing  all  day  directly  from  the 
coast  and  the  snow  and  ice  were  melting  on 
the  mountains,  the  water  tearing  down  their 


URSUS  HORRIBILIS  105 

sides  into  the  streams  below,  thus  filling  them 
to  overflowing.  The  Chief  said  not  a  word, 
but  led  Charley  directly  towards  the  glacier 
of  which  I  have  previously  spoken.  When 
we  had  gotten  to  it,  he  promptly  led  his  horse 
out  upon  it,  and  I  asked  him  what  he  meant 
to  do.  He  said  he  was  going  to  cross  it.  He 
had  never  climbed  this  glacier,  neither  had 
any  other  white  man  so  far  as  he  knew,  but 
we  must  get  over  it  in  some  way  or  else  lay 
out  all  night. 

When  I  remarked  that  I  could  not  climb 
that  sheet  of  snow  and  ice  and  go  down  the 
other  side,  as  I  had  nothing  on  my  feet  but 
moccasins,  he  soon  settled  the  question  by  cut- 
ting two  pieces  of  rope  and  tying  one  around 
and  under  the  instep  of  each  foot,  saying: 
"Come  on  now,  you  won't  slip." 

He  led  Charley,  and  I  led  Billie.  There 
was  a  goodly  crust  of  frozen  snow  on  top  of 
the  ice,  and  this,  when  broken  through  by  our 
steps,  brought  us  in  touch  with  the  rapidly 
melting  ice  and  running  water  underneath, 
which  in  turn  filled  my  footwear  with  icy  wa- 
ter. There  was  no  time  or  place  to  remedy 
this  condition,  so  we  grimly  plodded  on,  yet 
always   slipping  back  some  with  each   step. 

At  last  we  reached  the  top,  which  was  found 


io6  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

to  be  nearly  flat,  and  then,  without  stopping 
to  rest,  commenced  the  descent.  Here  my 
ropes  did  not  help  me  as  well  as  in  going 
up.  The  slipping  was  almost  continuous, 
and  in  one  of  these  unavoidable  slides, 
I  slipped  down  with  a  slap-bang  thud.  It 
was  up  to  my  trousers  to  keep  me  from  in- 
jury, as  I  was  in  the  position  of  a  boy  coast- 
ing down  a  steep  hill  seated  on  a  sled,  only 
there  was  no  sled  between  me  and  the  ice. 
But  the  trousers  proved  themselves  to  be 
staunch  and  tough  and  I  slid  safely.  When 
the  ice  pack  was  finally  crossed  we  struck  the 
swiftly- running  water;  in  the  water  were  big 
stones  and  with  the  aid  of  these  I  was  soon 
able  to  brace  my  feet  and  once  more  rise  to 
a  perpendicular  position. 

We  found  the  moraine  on  this  side  im- 
passable, so  we  were  compelled  to  make  a  de- 
tour to  the  right  where  we  struck  a  large 
inclined  plane.  It  now  became  dark,  so  I 
mounted  Billie  and  gave  him  the  freedom  of 
the  bridle  to  pick  out  the  path  leading  down 
to  the  river  bottom.  He  had  frequently  been 
on  this  incline  feeding,  so  he  was  supposed 
to  know  the  way.  Carefully  yet  confidently 
he  jogged  along  in  the  darkness,  and  all  went 
well  until  he  suddenly  stopped  on  the  edge 


URSUS  HORRIBILIS  107 

of  a  bank  with  a  sheer  drop  of  perhaps  fifteen 
feet  to  the  bed  of  a  roaring  creek  below. 
Both  of  us  dismounted,  and  the  Chief  said  that 
Billie  had  led  us  to  where  a  trail  ought  to 
be,  down  which  we  should  have  reached  the 
bottom,  but  the  roaring  flood  had  washed  it 
away.  By  feeling,  it  was  found  that  the 
ground  was  soft  and  free  from  stones  where 
the  descent  had  to  be  made,  so  we  concluded 
to  break  off  a  bit  of  the  edge  and  then,  leading 
Billie  up  to  it,  to  let  him  slide  down  on  his 
four  feet.  This  was  done,  and  when  Billie 
understood  w^hat  he  was  expected  to  do,  he 
reached  down  with  his  front  feet  as  far  as 
he  could,  then,  quickly  letting  himself  go,  he 
brought  his  hind  feet  up  to  his  forefeet,  and 
in  a  jiffy  was  safely  down.  Charley  came 
next,  and  he  also  landed  below^  without  trou- 
ble. Next  the  Chief  slid  down,  and  I 
followed. 

In  a  short  time  we  emerged  from  the  mouth 
of  this  roaring  creek  into  the  river  bottom. 
The  rumbling  of  water  rushing  down  the 
mountain  sides  and  the  occasional  crashing  of 
blocks  of  ice  from  the  glacier  made  a  noise 
that  was  almost  deafening. 

The  river,  in  place  of  being  confined  en- 
tirely to  two  main  streams,   had  now  over- 


io8  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

flowed  its  banks,  and  auxiliary  streams  were 
running  in  many  different  directions.  We 
avoided  fording  the  main  streams  as  long  as 
we  could,  but  finally  we  came  to  a  place  where 
we  must  cross,  and  that,  too,  in  the  dark,  at 
about  half-past  eleven  at  night.  The  Chief  for 
some  reason  thought  Charley  was  the  best 
animal  to  find  the  way  across,  so  he  mounted 
and  carefully  led  the  way  until  the  deep  rush- 
ing water  was  reached.  Then  he  let  Charley 
choose  his  own  path,  and  this  he  did  by  at- 
tempting to  cross  at  right  angles  to  the  flow 
of  the  stream.  This  carried  him  off  his  feet 
and  he  had  a  hard  and  wet  time  of  it  before 
landing  on  the  far  side. 

I  w^aited  with  Billie  until  the  Chief  had 
gotten  across,  and  then  gave  Billie  the  bridle. 
Now  notice  the  difference.  Billie  would  put 
down  one  foot  and  carefully  feel  for  a  stone, 
then  with  the  other  foot  grope  around  until 
he  found  another  stone,  and  so  on,  all  the 
while  taking  a  slanting  course.  He  thus 
crossed  without  losing  his  footing  at  all.  Of 
course  the  Chief  and  I  were  both  wet.  We 
soon  found  some  wood  and  started  a  fire. 
Fortunately  I  had  a  couple  of  pairs  of  dry 
socks  in  my  saddle  bag  and  an  extra  pair  of 
shoes  fastened  to  the  pommel  of  my  saddle, 


URSUS  HORRIBILIS  109 

and  with  dry  shoes  and  socks,  and  a  cup  of 
hot  mate  to  warm  the  inner  man,  we  crossed 
the  various  little  streams,  and  rode  on  until 
we  landed  in  camp  at  12.30  in  the  morning. 

Now  the  Chief,  insisting  that  I  was  the 
first  white  man  to  cross  this  particular  gla- 
cier, has  promised  that  in  future  it  shall  be 
called  the  "Martindale  Glacier,"  and  shall  be 
so  placed  upon  the  maps  of  this  region. 


CHAPTER  VII 

A  PECULL\R  STALK 
"  'Tis  the  unexpected  that  always  happens." 

WE  waited  for  several  days  to  see  if  our 
friend,  the  silver-tipped  grizzly,  would 
have  forgotten  that  he  had  come  in  contact 
with  our  scent  when  he  made  such  a  quick  exit 
over  the  divide. 

Early  on  a  particularly  fine  morning  we 
went  back  again  and,  posting  ourselves  high 
up  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  canyon,  sat 
down  to  watch  through  the  glasses.  We  were 
there  most  of  the  forenoon,  but  no  bear 
appeared. 

After  eating  our  midday  lunch  we  saw  a 
couple  of  cow  caribou  come  over  the  divide, 
then  a  few  more,  and  soon  still  others,  until 
nine  cows  were  in  sight.  These  were  fol- 
lowed by  a  spike-horn  bull  and  lastly  the  herd 
bull  appeared.  Something  must  have  dis- 
turbed them  on  the  other  side,  as  they  com- 
menced one  by  one  to  lie  down  and  rest. 
However,  they  were  restless  and  seemed  to  be 


A  PECULIAR  STALK  iii 

afraid  of  something  back  of  them,  as  their 
heads  were  frequently  turned  that  way. 
Where  they  were  located  it  was  impossible 
to  stalk  them,  as  the  wind  was  bad.  We  came 
down  to  the  canyon  from  our  elevation  and 
I  fired  a  shot  to  see  if  it  would  bring  them 
down  to  where  a  safe  shot  could  be  had.  The 
reverberation  of  the  rifle  had  hardly  ceased 
when  they  were  up  and  moving  downwards. 
Their  line  of  travel  was  a  slanting  one 
that  took  them  a  mile  or  more  up  the 
canyon.  They  soon  passed  entirely  out  of 
sight. 

Following  their  general  direction  of  travel, 
we  leisurely  led  the  horses  until  perhaps  a 
mile  had  been  covered.  The  horses  were  then 
tethered  and  we  slowly  and  carefully  con- 
tinued the  stalk.  For  a  long  time  their  lo- 
cation was  a  conundrum.  It  seemed  as  if 
they  had  been  spirited  away,  but  where,  was 
the  question. 

W^e  had  been  picking  our  way  along  the 
sides  of  the  canyon;  now  we  came  to  a  piece 
of  bench-land  well  covered  with  willow 
brush,  and  some  spots  where  rich  grass  was 
growing.  A  sudden  twist  in  the  wind  came 
and  the  whole  herd,  which  had  been  lying 
down,  jumped  up  right  before  us.     How  they 


112  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

did  "sail"  away!  The  bull  as  he  ran  was 
blanketed  on  both  sides  by  one  or  more  cows 
and  at  first  it  was  impossible  to  get  a  clean 
shot  without  hitting  a  cow.  They  ran  to  the 
bed  of  the  stream,  w^hich  at  this  point  was 
half  a  mile  wide.  Here  they  spread  out, 
and  a  long  shot  at  last  brought  down  the  bull. 
He  was  in  fairly  good  condition,  having  some 
little  fat  on  his  back  and  intestines.  His 
stomach  was  filled  with  the  white  moss  which 
they  are  so  fond  of,  and  his  antlers  were  mas- 
sive and  regular. 

The  young  bull  that  we  had  seen  at  a  dis- 
tance and  thought  but  a  spike  horn  we  found 
had  a  fairly  developed  set  of  antlers  when 
seen  at  close  range.  The  cows  looked  espe- 
cially sleek  and  fat  and  well  conditioned. 
The  stalk  had  lasted  so  long  and  we  were  so 
far  away  from  camp  that  we  left  the  head  and 
scalp  to  be  brought  home  next  day  by  one  of 
the  men.  We  did  not  reach  camp  until  about 
eleven  o'clock  that  night. 

The  Chief  had  for  some  days  been  plan- 
ning a  "moose  drive"  and  the  following  morn- 
ing was  to  give  us  a  taste  of  this  new  plan 
of  hunting  the  moose. 

In  other  sections  of   the  continent  where 


A  PECULIAR  STALK  113 

moose  abound,  I  have  hunted  them  by  stalk- 
ing; by  using  the  moose-horn  in  calling — 
both  by  day  and  night;  and  by  sitting  down 
and  watching  by  the  side  of  either  a  run-way 
or  a  lick.  I  remember  well  lying  out  one 
cold  night  behind  a  big  rock  close  to  the  lake 
on  my  own  grounds  in  Maine.  A  bull  and  a 
cow  moose  had  for  several  nights  been  using 
a  trail  that  led  past  this  boulder  on  their  way 
to  a  portion  of  the  lake  where  the  lily  pads 
grew  in  plenty. 

It  was  in  the  latter  part  of  October,  and 
the  wind  was  right.  With  plenty  of  cover- 
ing I  fixed  up  a  place  behind  the  rock  where 
I  could  lie,  and  where  a  shot  might  be  ef- 
fective even  before  the  rock  was  passed.  The 
night  w^as  overcast  and  tow^ards  nine  o'clock 
it  became  quite  dark.  Just  back  of  the  hid- 
ing place  was  a  good-sized  spruce  tree,  with 
two  of  its  lower  branches  extending  out  over 
the  rock. 

In  such  a  tryst  the  minutes  as  they  pass 
seem  to  be  of  extra  length,  while  a  whole 
hour's  watching  and  listening  makes  one 
think  that  morning  must  be  near.  When  sit- 
ting out  all  night  it  is  hard  to  gauge  the  pass- 
ing hours.  Nothing  was  heard  of  the  coming 
of  the  pair  of  moose;  in  fact,  there  were  no 


114  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

sounds  of  any  kind  whatever.  Absolute  still- 
ness reigned  supreme,  and  the  drop  of  the 
proverbial  pin  could  have  been  heard. 

Then,  without  previous  warning,  a  pierc- 
ing screech  came  from  some  object  apparently 
on  one  of  the  two  extending  limbs  of  the 
spruce  tree  directly  over  my  head,  I  divined 
that  the  animal  was  a  Loupcervier,  or,  in 
common  parlance,  a  Lucevie — a  species  of 
Lynx. 

Hastily  drawing  my  hunting  knife,  as  1 
expected  every  second  that  the  big  cat  would 
jump  on  me,  I  waited  breathlessly  for  his 
spring,  but  nothing  more  was  heard.  The 
hours  rolled  slowly  by  and  daylight  appeared 
and  as  "the  sun  with  one  eye  vieweth  all  the 
world,"  so  I  made  a  careful  s-earch  of  the 
ground  to  see  if  the  tracks  of  such  a  blood- 
thirsty creature  were  anywhere  to  be  found. 

There  were  many  tracks  engraved  in  the 
soft  bottom  that  hereabouts  prevailed,  but 
none  that  showed  the  sharp  claws  or  the  pad- 
ded-like feet  of  a  large  cat.  Neither  did 
the  bark  of  the  tree  show  any  signs  of  a  large 
animal  having  climbed  it.  What,  then,  could 
it  have  been?  Careful  investigation  showed 
that  it  was  nothing  else  than  a  screech  owl — 
the  owl  that  is  *'not  able  to  endure  the  sight 


^ 


r^  \ 


-.  O       c 


A  PECULIAR  STALK  115 

of  day."  He  is  by  kind  nature  provided  with 
a  soft  down  which  lines  the  underside  of  his 
wings,  so  that  his  flight  is  noiseless,  and  this 
provision  helps  him  in  hunting  for  his  sus- 
tenance, even  on  the  darkest  of  nights.  It 
is  thus  that  an  all-wise  Creator  enables  birds 
of  prey  that  hunt  only  by  night  to  seek  for 
and  secure  their  food. 

But  now  we  were  to  hunt  the  moose  In  a 
different  manner,  by  means  of  a  moose-drive, 
and  this  is  how  it  was  arranged.  To  the 
north  of  where  we  had  been  hunting,  the 
river  on  both  sides  w^as  fringed  with  a  fairly 
thick  cover  of  timber  consisting  for  the  most 
part  of  balsam  fir  and  spruce  trees.  The 
banks  of  the  river  were  quite  steep,  and  only 
in  places  where  a  stream  poured  its  waters 
into  the  river  could  the  horses,  by  following 
the  bed  of  the  stream,  be  taken  to  the  plateau 
above. 

The  plan  was  for  the  two  guides  and  we,  the 
hunters,  to  leave  camp  at  six  o'clock,  travel 
down  the  bed  of  the  river  for  a  distance  of 
five  miles,  and  then,  following  a  creek  up  to 
the  highlands,  pick  out  a  place  where  each 
hunter  could  keep  his  eyes  on  a  moose  run- 
way for  some  distance  in  front  of  him. 

Two  hours  after  the  hunters  had  left,  the 


ii6  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

two  wranglers  were  to  follow  us  on  horse- 
back, and  travel  along  the  plateau  leading 
from  the  first  stream  they  came  to.  One  was 
to  travel  close  to  the  river's  bank,  and  the 
other  was  to  keep  abreast  of  him  on  the 
higher  level  perhaps  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away. 
There  were  many  fir  trees  standing  by  them- 
selves whose  lower  branches  were  dead,  and 
these  when  touched  with  a  match  would  burn 
and  quickly  snap  almost  like  fire  crackers. 
The  flames  would  then  rapidly  shoot  to  the 
tops  of  the  trees,  making  a  brilliant  fire  ac- 
companied by  a  dense  smoke.  There  was  no 
danger  of  a  forest  fire,  as  the  trees  that  were 
fired  were  always  old  trees  and  for  the  most 
part  dead  at  the  bottom,  and  they  nearly  al- 
ways stood  alone.  The  crackling  of  the 
lower  branches  could  be  heard  from  afar, 
and  the  scent  of  the  burning  wood  would  soon 
be  caught  by  the  sensitive  nostrils  of  any 
moose  that  might  be  in  the  vicinity.  Each 
man  was  to  watch  out  so  that  the  tree  that  was 
fired  should  be  on  a  line  as  nearly  as  possible 
with  his  companion's  tree.  Thus  they  slowly 
worked  their  way  towards  our  rendezvous. 
We  soon  could  see  from  afar  the  pillars  of 
smoke  ascending  to  the  sky,  but  it  was  some 
time  before  we  saw  the  fire. 


A  PECULIAR  STALK  117 

We  had  been  assigned  a  suitable  position 
about  three-eighths  of  a  mile  away,  and  all 
was  silent  for  a  time  until  the  sound  of  three 
shots  rang  out  to  our  left.  After  that  the 
Chief  and  I  heard  nothing  more,  neither  did 
we  see  game  of  any  kind.  The  horsemen 
having  now  appeared,  that  settled  the  drive 
for  the  day.  The  Chief  said  that  the  wind 
had  turned  just  enough  to  drive  the  moose 
across  the  river,  rather  than  straight  down  to 
us.  But  my  companion,  who  had  fired  the 
shots,  had  brought  down  a  fair-sized  moose 
which  had  come  within  easy  riiie  shot  of 
him. 

The  next  day  we  crossed  the  river  and  in 
the  same  manner  "drove"  the  other  side.  But 
once  again  the  wind  changed  and  nothing  was 
accomplished. 

We  now  moved  camp  to  a  basin  or  depres- 
sion on  that  side  of  the  river,  at  the  back  of 
a  series  of  high  and  steep  pinnacles  to  the  east. 
The  tents  having  been  pitched,  supper  eaten, 
and  a  good  fire  made,  around  which  we  were 
standing,  as  it  was  quite  cold,  some  one  said: 
"Look  at  the  wolverine."  Casting  our  eyes 
up  to  the  top  of  the  nearest  pinnacle  we  saw 
a  moving  object  which  turned  out  to  be  a 
grizzly.     He  had  seen  us  and  the  camp  fire, 


ii8  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

and  perhaps  had  scented  the  smoke,  for  he 
was  off  with  a  rush. 

Thus  we  had  another  lesson  demonstrating 
the  rapidity  with  which  a  grizzly  bear  can 
get  out  of  sight. 

There  were  four  high  pinnacles  in  front  of 
us;  the  largest  and  steepest  was  directly  above 
our  camp ;  the  other  three  were  to  the  left. 
Between  the  largest  butte  and  the  next  was  a 
pass  in  the  center.  Here  was  a  small  lake, 
around  whose  shores  were  many  tracks  that 
showed  the  presence  of  moose.  I  took  a 
moose-horn,  and  at  about  nine  o'clock  at  night 
I  sat  down  near  the  little  lake  and  made  three 
calls  some  fifteen  minutes  apart.  I  heard  a 
distinct  answer  to  the  first  call,  showing  that 
at  least  one  bull  moose  was  in  that  vicinity. 

The  following  morning  we  climbed  the  tall 
butte  and  saw  from  its  peak  a  bull  and  three 
cows  in  the  bottom  land  below.  The  wind, 
however,  was  against  us.  The  forenoon  was 
spent  in  exploring  a  wide  plateau;  in  the  aft- 
ernoon, after  eating  lunch,  we  returned  and 
sat  on  the  peak  of  the  butte,  and  before  night 
arrived  we  saw,  in  all,  eight  cows,  one  spike 
horn,  three  "outside"  bulls,  and  one  remark- 
ably fine  herd  bull,  with  antlers  having  a 
spread  of  at  least  seventy  inches.     This  bull 


A  PECULIAR  STALK  119 

had  a  jet  black  coat,  white  legs,  and  not  a  very 
large  body;  we  made  him  out  to  be  a  com- 
paratively young  moose.  He  was  intensely 
jealous  of  the  other  three  bulls  and  when  any 
one  of  them  came  too  near  a  member  of  his 
harem,  he  would  be  up  and  after  him  like  a 
streak,  and  this  energetic  exercise  kept  him 
on  the  jump  most  of  the  time. 

It  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  we  were  at 
a  great  height  above  the  animals,  and  could 
see  their  doings  just  as  if  it  was  a  drama  that 
was  being  performed  at  our  very  feet. 

The  herd  fed  in  the  open  for  a  couple  of 
hours,  and  then  "Brigham  Young,"  the  herd 
bull,  evidently  signaled  the  members  to  move. 
Without  exhibiting  any  alarm  or  undue  speed, 
they  stopped  feeding,  went  up  into  the  for- 
est, and  passed  out  of  sight. 

The  following  morning  we  again  climbed 
the  tall  butte.  We  examined  the  forest  be- 
low with  our  glasses,  but  for  a  couple  of  hours 
we  failed  to  locate  the  herd.  Then  the  ani- 
mals were  discovered  feeding,  a  mile  or  so  to 
our  left,  which  necessitated  a  journey  down 
from  the  peak  of  the  high  butte  and  a  climb 
of  the  next  one  to  the  left.  By  the  time  the 
second  one  was  surmounted,  the  quarry  had 
moved    yet    farther    away.     Down   we   went 


I20  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

again,  and  climbing  the  third  butte  we  spent 
the  balance  of  that  day  in  watching  the  ca- 
prices of  this  most  interesting  family. 

As  I  think  over  this  long  vigil,  which  lasted 
in  all  nearly  three  days,  I  wonder  if  any  other 
group  of  men  ever  had  such  an  opportunity 
as  fell  to  our  lot.  What  could  be  more  in- 
structive or  more  interesting  to  a  student  of 
nature  than  to  be  able  to  watch  such  a  group 
of  animals  from  an  elevation  high  enough  to 
be  out  of  range  of  the  scent,  and  yet  near 
enough  to  enable  us  to  see  and  interpret  every 
action?  ''Brigham"  seemed  to  lavish  most  of 
his  attention  upon  an  old  reddish-colored  cow, 
and  whenever  she  was  in  sight  we  generally 
could  locate  him,  for  she  was  ever  near  him. 

This  day,  again,  the  wind  was  blowing  di- 
rectly from  us  to  them,  so  that  we  could  not 
in  any  way  stalk  them  and  get  a  safe  shot. 
The  peculiar  action  upon  the  part  of  any  one 
of  the  cows  when  one  of  the  three  smaller 
bulls  approached  her,  in  the  apparent  en- 
deavor to  ingratiate  himself  into  her  good 
opinion,  was  interesting.  She  would  at  once 
run  to  ''Brigham"  and  possibly  tell  him 
that  the  saucy  young  bull  was  annoying 
her,  perhaps  insulting  her.  If  "Brigham" 
was   lying  down,  he  would  bounce  up   and 


A  PECULIAR  STALK  121 

chase  the  intruder  away  with  a  vengeance, 
sometimes  getting  close  enough  to  the  youth 
to  give  him  a  swipe  with  his  antlers.  This 
procedure  was  followed  from  time  to  time 
nearly  all  afternoon. 

The  day  had  worn  on  until  the  sun  had  set; 
the  twilight  was  approaching,  when  we  heard 
the  gruff  voice  of  a  big  bull  coming  through 
the  pass  behind  us,  between  the  third  buttc 
(the  one  we  w^ere  on)  and  the  fourth,  which 
was  to  our  left.  We  soon  saw  him,  and 
named  him  ''Sir  Ivanhoe,"  from  his  brave 
and  fearless  demeanor. 

"Sir  Ivanhoe"  would  frequently  stop  and 
paw  the  earth,  throwing  the  dust  and  dirt  over 
his  head.  Then  in  a  strong  but  guttural  voice 
he  would  issue  his  challenge  to  fight  any 
bull  moose  in  that  whole  vicinity — "bar 
none." 

We  now  saw  that  the  three  young  bulls 
were  listening  to  the  newcomer's  challenge, 
and  as  "Sir  Ivanhoe"  came  nearer,  they  ad- 
vanced cautiously  from  their  different  posi- 
tions to  see  what  manner  of  antagonist  was 
approaching  them.  A  small  lake  or  pond 
intervened  between  the  rivals.  "Sir  Ivanhoe" 
was  rapidly  nearing  it;  yet  he  would  stop 
every  few  minutes  to  throw  out  his  defiant 


122  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

challenge.  When  he  at  last  spied  the  three 
rivals,  they  had  closely  bunched  together, 
without  any  one  of  the  three  having  heart 
enough  to  come  out  alone.  It  was  like 
Goliath  challenging  David,  that  he,  the 
youngster,  would  take  the  gauge  of  battle 
upon  himself.  "Sir  Ivanhoe"  crossed  around 
the  far  end  of  the  little  lake  and  slowly  neared 
the  three  would-be  fighters.  When  his  size 
and  fierce  looks  had  been  fully  recognized  by 
the  three,  they  severally  turned  tail  and,  no 
doubt  believing  that  "he  who  fights  and  runs 
away  will  live  to  fight  another  day,"  they  were 
soon  lost  in  the  depths  of  the  forest. 

All  this  time  "Brigham"  was  lying  on  his 
left  side  with  his  head  up,  eagerly  scanning 
the  newcomer.  Presently  we  saw  two  cows, 
one  of  them  being  the  old  red  cow,  run  up  to 
"Brigham,"  evidently  in  some  way  telling  the 
chief  that  he  must  up  and  protect  them  from 
this  rude  invader.  "Brigham"  apparently  al- 
ready had  made  up  his  mind  that  it  was  now 
absolutely  necessary  to  fight,  if  he  was  to  main- 
tain his  position  as  chief  of  the  harem.  Now 
or  never  was  the  time  to  humble  this  proud 
usurper  by  a  battle  to  the  finish.  He  raised 
himself  slowly,  and,  with  his  great  antlers 
reaching  to  their  highest  level,  he  majestic- 


A  PECULIAR  STALK  123 

ally  took  a  few  steps  towards  ''Sir  Ivanhoe," 
who  now  had  stopped  his  boasting. 

Near  the  margin  of  the  little  lake  was  a 
slight  elevation  of  the  soil,  perhaps  a  foot  and 
a  half  in  height.  Upon  this  "Brigham"  took 
his  stand  and  calmly  looked  his  opponent 
over.  He  made  no  "talk"  whatever,  but  just 
stood  and  looked  with  all  the  majesty  of  his 
kingly  presence.  On  his  side  "Sir  Ivanhoe" 
appeared  to  wonder  at  the  size  and  weight 
of  his  opponent's  great  antlers  as  he  stood  be- 
fore him,  and  then,  believing  that  "discretion 
was  the  better  part  of  valor,"  he  followed  the 
example  of  the  three  young  bulls  who  had  fled 
before  him.  Quickly  turning  around,  he 
lost  not  a  minute  in  taking  himself  out  of 
sight  and  of  hearing. 

Thus  closed  the  drama  of  the  Moose  fam- 
ily on  the  second  day  of  our  observations,  and 
for  that  season  at  least  the  question  as  to  which 
bull  should  be  master  of  the  herd  was  settled. 

The  morning  of  the  third  day  found  us  once 
more  on  the  peak  of  the  third  pinnacle,  and 
once  more  we  failed  to  locate  the  moose  for  a 
couple  of  hours.  Then  we  spied  them  feed- 
ing near  the  base  of  the  fourth  butte.  This 
we  climbed,  arriving  at  the  top  between  nine 


124  '^HE  UPPER  YUKON 

and  ten  o'clock,  with  the  wind  still  in  the 
wrong  quarter.  We  watched  the  animals 
with  the  same  eager  attention  as  on  the  pre- 
ceding two  days.  The  same  routine  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  herd  of  moose  as  before,  the  old 
red  cow  still  being  the  center  of  attraction  to 
"Brigham." 

There  being  no  water  handy  on  our  high 
elevation,  and  not  wanting  to  make  a  fire,  we 
ate  a  cold  lunch  consisting  of  a  cold  mutton 
chop  each,  dry  bread,  and  a  handful  of  rai- 
sins. When  we  had  finished  we  were  over- 
joyed to  find  that  the  wind  had  suddenly 
changed,  and  it  was  now  blowing  almost 
with  the  strength  of  a  gale  right  in  our 
faces. 

In  the  meantime  the  band  of  moose  had 
disappeared  into  the  depths  of  the  high  for- 
est, in  front  of  us,  and  as  everything  was  now 
favorable  for  a  successful  stalk,  we  went 
down  the  face  of  that  butte  on  a  run. 

At  the  bottom  we  skirted  a  small  lake,  and 
soon  struck  the  trail  of  the  herd.  This  we 
found  to  be  quite  fresh,  and  to  lead  directly 
up  the  forest  on  a  rather  steep  slant.  This 
necessitated  a  cautious  ascent,  and  we  there- 
fore made  our  advance  on  our  hands  and 
knees,  carefully  watching  out  for  small  fallen 


A  PECULIAR  STALK  125 

branches  of  trees  so  as  not  to  snap  them  and 
thus  make  a  noise. 

For  the  first  and  only  time  on  the  whole 
trip,  we  were  badly  pestered  with  swarms  of 
annoying  and  aggravating  sand  flies.  These 
pestiferous  insects  got  into  our  eyes,  ears,  and 
nose,  and  the  farther  we  went  into  the  deep 
woods,  the  worse  the  nuisance  became.  A 
half-hour's  crawling  on  hands  and  knees 
brought  us  within  sight  of  some  of  the  cows. 
Now  we  crawled  on  our  stomachs.  I  held 
out  my  rifle  before  me  as  we  moved,  and 
warily  watched  for  "Brigham."  Knowing 
that  we  now  must  be  very  close  to  him,  every 
move  was  well  considered  before  making  it. 
By  this  time  I  was  nearly  choking  for  wa- 
ter, as  the  dried  raisins  eaten  at  lunch  seemed 
to  clog  my  throat  as  if  I  had  swallowed  muci- 
lage. Fifteen,  maybe  twenty,  minutes  went 
by,  and  yet  we  had  seen  nothing  of  the  king. 
Then  the  old  red  cow  walked  out  into  a  small 
valley  that  was  covered  with  rich  grass.  It 
was  tall  and  swayed  in  the  breeze.  We 
felt  sure  now  that  we  must  be  quite  close  to 
his  majesty.  At  last  the  Chief  spied  him  to 
my  left,  and  whispered  that  he  was  not  more 
than  forty  yards  away.  "Shoot,  and  shoot 
quick!"  he  said.     At  this  very  particular  and 


126  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

important  point,  I  was  practically  stran- 
gling, as  one  of  the  little  sand  flies  had  gotten 
down  my  throat  and  I  was  nearly  paralyzed  in 
an  endeavor  to  keep  from  coughing.  With 
my  left  hand  pressed  tightly  against  my  mouth, 
and  with  my  face  closely  hugging  the  ground, 
I  had  to  cough,  no  less  than  three  times  (and 
it  couldn't  have  been  helped  if  all  the  moose 
in  the  country  had  been  before  me).  And 
what  think  you  happened? 

His  majesty  heard  the  coughing  and,  with 
lightning-like  speed,  he  gave  the  signal  to  his 
herd  to  run  more  quickly  than  I  can  write  it, 
and  not  only  he  but  every  member  of  the  herd 
was  out  of  sight  in  a  minute. 

The  Chief  said  some  strong  words  in  a  very 
strong  voice,  and  when  I  at  last  found  my 
speech  I  said:  ''Chief,  I  don't  swear  myself, 
but  I'll  give  you  leave  to  swear  as  much,  and 
as  hard  as  you  can,  until  you  are  once  more 
at  ease." 

We  picked  up  the  trail  of  "Brigham"  and 
found  by  his  tracks  and  those  of  the  others, 
that  all  of  the  herd  had  run  away  as  fast 
as  they  could  go;  so  it  was  useless  to  follow 
them.  It  was  a  discouraging  ending  to  our 
three  days'  stalk.  As  night  was  upon  us,  we 
wended  our  way  back  to  camp.     Neither  of 


A  PECULIAR  STALK  127 

us  had  anything  to  say,  but  both  did  a  pile  of 
thinking.  Surely  under  the  circumstances 
"silence  was  golden."  Yet  "it's  the  unex- 
pected that  always  happens." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

A  CHANGE  OF  BASE 

"To-morrow  let  my  sun  his  beams  display 
Or  in  clouds  hide  them.     I  have  lived  to-day." 

ACCORDING  to  our  program  it  was 
now  time  to  commence  a  gradual  jour- 
ney to  the  outer  world.  The  camp  was 
broken  up,  and  our  pack  horses  were  loaded 
with  horns,  antlers  and  dunnage.  We 
crossed  over  a  divide  and  struck  an  extended 
water  shed  with  a  large  stream  swiftly  flowing 
through  a  wide  valley.  Deep  caribou  trails 
were  seen  in  different  directions;  in  one  place 
they  were  nearly  two  feet  in  depth.  Gophers 
were  plentiful  and  so  were  the  ptarmi- 
gan. 

On  this  march  I  saw  the  only  Wilson 
snipe  that  we  sighted  during  the  whole  trip. 
We  were  now  in  close  touch  with  another 
hunting  party  consisting  of  Mr.  R.  B.  Slaugh- 
ter— a  famous  hunter  from  Chicago — and 
Stephen  B.  Elkins,  Jr.,  of  West  Virginia. 
The  latter  had  experienced  much  trouble  with 


A  CHANGE  OF  BASE  129 

his  cartridges.  He  was  using  an  8  Mil. 
Mannlicher  rifle — the  same  kind  of  weapon 
that  we  were  using.  He  had  purchased 
American  cartridges,  and  about  every  other 
one  for  some  reason  failed  to  explode.  The 
Chief  made  a  call  at  their  camp  and,  finding 
out  that  Mr.  Elkins  was  in  need  of  cartridges, 
we  were  pleased  to  be  able  to  supply  his  wants 
with  some  that  had  been  made  in  Vienna, 
Austria. 

It's  a  nasty  thing  to  travel  thousands  of 
miles  in  search  of  big  game  and  then  to  find 
the  ammunition  defective  and  unreliable,  and 
more  particularly  where  bears  are  to  be 
hunted. 

That  evening  we  were  in  bed  early,  so  as 
to  have  a  good  start  in  the  morning.  Our 
route  for  the  new  day  was  to  cross  another 
divide  which  required  a  long  and  torturous 
journey  before  we  got  to  the  summit.  Once 
there,  we  lunched  on  its  crest  and  from  our 
high  elevation  took  in  the  wonders  of  the 
glorious  scenery.  To  the  right  of  our  line  of 
travel,  a  goodly  sized  stream  forced  its  way 
through  a  canyon  with  high,  snow-covered 
m,ountains  on  each  side.  The  course  of  the 
stream  being  at  right  angles  to  us  and  its  path 
straight  away  without  any  turning  as  far  as 


I30  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

we  could  see,  the  sight  was  a  most  beautiful 
one  and  long  to  be  remembered  for  its  gran- 
deur. 

Over  the  summit  of  a  certain  mountain  to 
the  left  a  snow  storm  was  tearing  along  at 
high  speed.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  can- 
yon the  sun  was  brightly  shining  and  a  rain- 
bow could  be  seen  in  the  distance.  Where 
we  lunched  the  sky  was  clear  and  everything 
was  pleasant.  Such  are  the  vagaries  of  this 
marvelous  land. 

We  were  told  that  but  fifteen  miles  away 
was  the  Alaskan  boundary  and  some  tall  peaks 
which  were  pointed  out  a  little  to  the  left  of 
the  streaml  were  in  Alaska.  The  air  was 
clear,  with  a  gentle  breeze  blowing  in  our 
faces  as  we  commenced  the  descent.  On  the 
left  side  of  us  was  a  long  and  savage  range  of 
mountains  covered  with  huge  broken  black 
rocks,  the  slopes  carved  into  canyons  and 
precipices.  I  did  not  dream  when  I  first  saw 
it  on  that  day,  that  I  would  have  to  climb  it 
two  days  afterwards,  as  it  seemed  almost  Im- 
passable. Here  were  spiral  peaks  with 
patches  of  snow,  and  as  the  sun  shone  on  the 
massive  accretion  of  scattered  rocks  and  tall 
pinnacles,  the  variegated  colors  caused  by  the 
bright  light  falling  upon  such  a  conglomera- 


A  CHANGE  OF  BASE  131 

tion  of  broken  granite  and  limestone  made  the 
vision  a  glorious  one. 

When  we  had  descended  a  couple  of  miles, 
the  route  led  close  to  a  tall  pinnacle  to  the 
right,  and  back  of  it  was  an  extensive  inclined 
plane  of  perhaps  two  and  a  half  miles  in  ex- 
tent, and  a  mile  or  more  in  breadth,  leading 
up  to  another  watershed.  This  inclined  plane 
was  well  covered  with  white  moss,  the  nour- 
ishing food  that  the  caribou  are  so  fond  of,  it 
being  their  principal  food. 

The  end  of  this  day's  journey  brought  us 
down  to  a  basin-like  bottom  where  our  tent 
was  pitched,  and  the  horses  let  loose  to  feed 
on  the  deep  grass  which  was  here  everywhere 
to  be  found.  Whichever  way  we  looked  from 
this  camp  it  seemed  that  we  were  faced  by  a 
divide,  north,  south,  east  and  west. 

The  first  evening  we  spent  here  was  one 
long  to  be  remembered.  Luminous  banks  of 
crimson  clouds  hung  over  the  mountains, 
while  dark  and  weird  shadows  were  to  be 
found  in  all  of  the  depressions  of  the  moun- 
tain sides,  and  the  wonder  of  it  all  was  the 
constantly  changing  light. 

Here  the  ptarmigan  was  found  in  enormous 
numbers,  and  their  hoarse  cackle  made  a  great 
volume  of  sound  that  could  be  heard   from 


132  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

every  direction,  both  when  in  flight  and  when 
feeding.  Their  coat  of  feathers  had  turned 
nearly  white,  so  as  to  be  ready  for  the  com- 
ing winter. 

The  following  morning  we  were  off  in 
search  of  bear  trails.  We  saw  many  sheep, 
but  did  not  molest  them.  Still  no  signs  of 
Bruin.  That  night  we  went  to  bed  early  and 
the  next  morning  the  Chief  said  we  would 
climb  the  great  mountain  that  we  had  passed 
two  days  previously.  He  averred  that  go- 
phers would  be  there  in  abundance  and  at  the 
crest  bear  ought  to  be  found  in  the  early 
morning  digging  them  out.  From  our  camp 
the  distance  was  four  miles.  Nothing  worthy 
of  mention  happened  until  we  had  climbed 
half-way  up  the  big  mountain  and  it  was 
necessary  to  tether  the  horse  and  Billie,  as  they 
could  not  get  any  farther  on  account  of  the 
broken  rocks.  At  this  spot,  on  turning 
around  to  scan  the  horizon  we  noticed  seven 
caribou  cows  coming  down  from  the  peak  of 
the  great  inclined  plane  which  has  already 
been  described.  With  the  glasses  we  failed 
to  see  any  bulls  in  the  herd. 

When  the  apex  of  the  rocky  mountain  was 
explored  we  were  much  disappointed  in  our 
expectations,    for   neither  gophers   nor   bears 


A  CHANGE  OF  BASE  133 

were  visible.  All  of  the  first  named  animals 
had  gone  into  winter  quarters,  and  not  a  sin- 
gle one  was  seen.  Neither  were  any  bears  or 
even  their  tracks  to  be  found.  We  then  must 
needs  retrace  our  steps.  On  the  return  we 
looked  with  wondering  eyes  on  the  herd  of 
caribou  which  now  had  increased  from  seven 
cows  to  thirty-two  head  in  all.  There  were 
twenty-seven  cows,  three  "outside"  bulls,  one 
spike-horn,  and  the  herd  bull,  which  was  quite 
a  distance  behind  the  bunch.  They  were  all 
leisurely  feeding  on  the  inclined  plane,  and 
scattered  about  in  every  direction.  At  first 
the  herd  bull  at  the  distance  he  was  away  did 
not  look  to  be  a  very  attractive  specimen;  but 
as  we  watched  his  descent  from  behind  the 
shelter  of  the  horses  and  as  he  came  nearer  and 
nearer,  we  discovered  him.  to  be  possessed  of 
a  grand  spread  of  antlers. 

We  had  come  out  after  grizzly  bears,  but  as 
we  had  found  none  we  could  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  allow  this  fine  bull  to  go  unchal- 
lenged. It  was  there  and  then  we  decided  to 
stalk  him,  but  how?     That  was  the  question. 

From  their  actions  it  seemed  as  if  the  herd 
would  cross  through  the  canyon,  come  up 
our  side,  and  over  that  divide.  A  good-sized 
butte  was  near  us  and  behind  this  we  led  the 


134  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

horses.     Then  we  climbed  the  butte,  and  lay 
down  to  watch  the  doings  of  the  herd. 

Our  first  sight  of  the  seven  cows  was  at 
8.26  A.  M.  It  was  9.23  when  we  climbed  the 
butte.  Soon  something  happened.  The  bull 
must  have  given  a  signal  to  the  herd  to  turn 
and  feed  back  again  up  the  incline,  as  one  by 
one  they  commenced  to  go  that  way,  while  he 
kept  on  towards  the  bottom.  Charley  and 
Billie  were  unpicketed  and  we  moved  off  to 
the  right,  then  descended  as  fast  as  our  ani- 
mals could  walk.  We  arrived  at  the  bottom 
without  having  been  discovered  by  the  herd. 
Our  animals  were  fastened  in  a  secluded 
place.  The  Chief  and  I  followed  down  along 
the  bottom  until  we  came  to  a  tall  pinnacle 
about  nine  hundred  feet  high,  rising  straight 
up  from  the  canyon.  This  we  climbed,  and 
creeping  on  all  fours  came  to  the  edge  of  the 
butte.  The  herd  was  well  scattered  and  we 
found  the  old  monarch  lying  down  at  full 
length  directly  beneath  us.  He  looked  the 
picture  of  a  physically  broken  animal.  My 
rifle  had  a  strong  recoil  and  I  feared  to  try 
a  shot  at  him  from  the  peak,  as  I  felt  sure 
I  would  overshoot  him,  but  the  Chief  insisted 
that  by  holding  firm  and  shooting  behind  his 
body  I  would  get  him.     I  tried  a  shot,  but  as 


A  CHANGE  OF  BASE  135 

expected  it  was  a  miss.  Then  such  a  scur- 
rying to  and  fro,  principally  on  the  part  of 
the  cows,  one  cannot  imagine,  and  the  remark- 
able thing  about  it  was  that  in  some  way  the 
cows  almost  instantly  surrounded  the  bull. 
No  matter  which  direction  he  took,  he  al- 
ways had  a  zealous  body-guard  from  among 
his  twenty-seven  wives. 

It  may  easily  be  surmised  that  their  line 
of  flight  would  be  to  the  top  of  the  inclined 
plane,  and  so  it  was,  but  they  never  seemed 
to  think  of  going  in  a  straight  line;  they 
surged  from  one  side  of  the  plane  to  the 
other. 

In  the  interim  I  was  doing  some  wild 
shooting.  As  the  convoy  of  females  always 
hung  around  the  flanks  of  ''the  master,"  and 
in  front  and  back  of  him  as  well,  in  order  not 
to  hit  any  of  the  cows,  I  was  taking  the  finest 
sort  of  fine  shots.  I  consequently  made  many 
misses.  To  tell  the  absolute  truth,  and  that's 
what  I  always  aim  to  do,  I  fired  no  less  than 
fifteen  cartridges,  and  the  only  harm  done 
was  to  knock  a  small  point  off  one  of  the  big 
bull's  antlers.  Now  my  last  cartridge  was 
fired.  It  was  necessary  to  go  back  to  where 
Billie  was  tied,  and  get  a  fresh  supply  of  am- 
munition.    It  was  now  noon.     The  caribou 


136  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

were  all  up  on  the  top  of  the  plane,  and  we 
expected  them  to  pass  over  and  disappear 
down  the  other  side.  The  Chief  said  we  had 
better  let  the  quarry  alone  for  a  while,  build 
a  fire,  and  get  our  lunch;  then  if  the  situation 
warranted  we  could  follow  them  over  the 
ridge. 

We  ate  a  hearty  meal,  and  I  lay  down  on 
one  of  Billie's  blankets  with  the  saddle  for  a 
pillow — which  was  my  invariable  custom 
every  day — and  slept  just  a  few  minutes.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  in  this  strange  climate  I 
could  sleep  sound  at  any  time  of  the  day  and 
in  any  position,  even  on  the  back  of  Billie. 

Again  we  climbed  the  butte — of  course 
keeping  out  of  sight — and  when  the  top  was 
attained  the  herd  seemed  to  be  just  about  to 
drop  down  over  the  other  side.  Back  we 
went  to  our  mounts,  and  getting  into  the  sad- 
dle we  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  herd. 
The  ground  was  soft,  treacherous,  and 
boggy,  with  an  occasional  piece  of  muskeag 
to  look  out  for,  so  we  made  slow  time, — yet, 
as  things  turned  out,  fast  enough.  We  could 
not  see  the  game  from  below,  as  we  could  from 
the  butte,  yet  we  went  up  very  circumspectly 
for  fear  one  or  more  of  the  herd  might  be  lying 
down  behind  a  small  grassy  elevation  some- 


A  CHANGE  OF  BASE  137 

where,  and  if  they  saw  us  the  bunch  would 
soon  be  away.  At  last  from  Billie's  back  I 
could  make  out  the  monarch's  antlers,  but  I 
thought  he  was  standing  up,  while  in  reality 
he  was  lying  down.  We  jumped  out  of  the 
saddles,  tethered  the  animals,  and  commenced 
crawling  on  hands  and  knees  towards  the 
herd.  As  we  got  closer  we  found  that  the 
whole  herd  was  feeding  in  an  oblong  depres- 
sion made  by  some  former  little  lake,  now 
dried  up.  The  next  thing  of  interest  was  "the 
king."  He  was  really  lying  down  on  a  small 
embankment,  while  at  each  side  of  him  were 
two  cows,  two  facing  up  the  inclined  plane 
and  the  other  two  facing  down.  Both  pairs 
seemed  to  be  acting  in  the  capacity  of  sen- 
tinels or  body  guards  for  "his  highness." 
Working  our  way  nearer,  we  approached  a 
fringe  of  small  willow  bushes  and  behind 
these  we  were  hidden.  I  was  to  the  left,  and 
in  trying  to  see  over  this  line  of  brush  I  raised 
my  head  a  few  inches  too  high.  One  of  the 
sentinels  on  the  left  saw  me.  Just  how  she 
imparted  her  discovery  to  the  others  I  can- 
not tell,  nor  even  imagine.  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  within  the  space  of  half  a  minute  she 
had  by  some  occult  power  conveyed  the 
startling  information  to  every  other  animal 


138  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

of  the  herd  that  the  enemy  was  upon  them. 
*'Run!  Run!  Run  for  your  lives!"  was  the 
hurried  admonition. 

The  old  bull  was  on  his  feet  in  an  instant, 
and  at  once  he  made  a  dash  for  the  front,  with 
one  cow  running  on  each  side,  close  enough 
to  be  grazing  his  flanks,  while  another  cow 
was  close  behind  him.  This  made  a  very  poor 
chance  for  an  effective  shot.  The  rear  cow, 
however,  seemed  unable  to  keep  up  the  pace, 
and  dropped  behind  a  little.  This  gave  me 
a  chance  for  a  shot,  and  taking  a  good  aim  I 
fired. 

''You've  missed  him  again,  and  you'll  never 
have  another  chance  at  him,"  said  the  Chief. 
"But  look,  he's  staggering,  the  cows  are 
running  to  and  fro;  something  is  about 
to  happen.  There,  there,  he's  down  at 
last!" 

It  seemed  almost  impossible  that  he  was 
surely  down,  as  he  had  been  living  a  sort  of 
charmed  life  in  dodging  bullets  up  to  the  pre- 
vious moment.  There  was  no  mistake,  how- 
ever, and  as  we  walked  up  to  the  fallen  mon- 
arch we  found  him  already  dead.  When  we 
had  taken  off  his  scalp  it  was  found  that  he 
could  hardly  have  lived  many  days,  as  his 
neck  and  shoulders  were  black  and  blue  from 


A  CHANGE  OF  BASE  139 

the  hammering  the  other  bulls  had  given  him, 
which  they  would  deal  out  to  him  when  he 
had  tried  one  of  his  characteristic  rushes  at 
them  because  of  getting  too  near  some  of  his 
wives.  On  the  right  shoulder  a  small  stream 
of  puss  was  running  down,  showing  that  his 
injuries  had  been  inflicted  several  days  pre- 
viously. There  was  not  a  particle  of  fat  or 
suet  on  the  back  of  his  shoulders  and  he  was 
as  lean  as  the  proverbial  crow. 

When  the  head  and  antlers  had  been  se- 
curely strapped  on  Charley  and  some  of  the 
other  portions  on  Billie,  we  looked  around  to 
see  where  the  balance  of  the  herd  had  gone. 
Not  over  four  hundred  yards  away  were  the 
three  bulls,  and  two  of  the  three  were  already 
fighting  to  see  which  would  be  the  new  king, 
while  the  third  presumably  would  wait  to  try 
it  out  with  the  victor. 

But  what  of  the  twenty-seven  wives  of  the 
''master  of  the  harem"?  They  were  in  plain 
sight,  calmly  feeding  as  if  nothing  whatever 
had  happened.  There  was  not  the  slightest 
sign  of  nervousness  or  worry  or  fright.  The 
old  cry,  "The  King  is  dead;  long  live  the 
King!"  is  true  of  animal  life  as  well  as  of  hu- 
man life.  The  wives,  that  but  an  hour  be- 
fore had  been  so  watchful  in  their  care  over 


I40  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

the  king  as  to  act  as  a  body-guard  for  him, 
seemingly  had  now  already  forgotten  him,  and 
as  soon  as  the  mastery  was  decided  among  the 
other  three  bulls,  they  would  cheerfully  ac- 
knowledge the  winner  as  their  lord  and 
master. 

Verily,  verily,  nature  is  seen  to  be  more 
and  more  wonderful  the  longer  we  live,  and 
as  we  learn  to  understand  her  mysterious  pro- 
visions for  the  guidance  of  animal  life,  and 
for  the  reproduction  of  the  species. 

This  was  all  in  all  a  most  exciting  day, 
from  the  first  sight  of  the  herd  at  8.23  A.  M. 
until  we  stooped  over  the  fallen  king  at  4.28 
P.  M.  With  the  exception  of  the  time  taken 
for  lunch,  it  was  an  almost  continuous  period 
of  keen  excitement  mixed  with  many  disap- 
pointments. No  doubt  in  the  years  to  come, 
of  all  the  soul-stirring  and  almost  heart-break- 
ing stalks  that  I  have  been  in,  this  one  of  the 
great  inclined  plane  will  linger  the  longest  in 
memory.  I  can  recall  it  all — the  sight  of  the 
herd  feeding  as  it  stretched  out  over  the  slope, 
the  frequent  battles  between  the  youngsters  and 
the  old  bull,  the  apparent  afifection  of  his 
wives,  then  the  swift  bullet  going  true  to  its 
aim,  the  short  run,  the  final  drop,  and  the 
stalk  was  finished. 


CHAPTER  rX 

AN  INTERESTING  TRAIL 

"I  ne'er  was  a  coward,  nor  slave  will  I  kneel 
While  my  guns  carry  shot,  or  my  belt  bears  a  steel," 

WITH  the  desire  to  secure  a  bear,  a 
journey  was  undertaken  that  for  nov- 
elty and  continued  interest  during  its  whole 
length  warrants  more  than  a  passing  comment. 
The  route  taken  carried  us  upward  by  a 
gradual  incline  until  we  saw  ahead  of  us  a 
long  undulating  mountain,  stretching  a  mile 
or  so  in  length,  with  a  sharp  razor-like  peak 
on  top.  The  sides  of  this  mountain  were  ex- 
ceedingly steep,  and  seemed  to  be  nothing  but 
an  aggregation  of  small  stones  of  varying 
sizes  and  shapes,  most  of  them  having  sharp 
points.  If  a  man  were  to  slip  over  the  peak, 
the  stones  would  then  start  on  a  downward 
movement,  carrying  their  human  passenger 
with  a  constantly  accelerating  swiftness  so 
that  by  the  time  the  base  was  reached,  there 
would  be  little  if  any  life  left  in  the  unfor- 
tunate victim. 


142  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

The  route  taken  by  the  Chief  led  up  to  the 
crest  of  this  peculiar  mountain.  Each  man 
led  his  mount.  The  ascent  was  gradual 
until  the  top  was  in  sight,  and  then  frequent 
saddles  or  hogbacks  were  met  with.  The 
ridge  of  this  novel  roadway  was  so  sharp  that 
it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  straddle  it,  and 
always  to  keep  one  foot  on  each  side  of  it. 

As  we  went  ahead  and  led  the  horses,  Billie 
jogged  quite  placidly  behind  me,  occasionally 
reaching  down  with  his  long  neck  to  pick 
a  blade  or  two  of  grass  on  one  side  or  the 
other  of  the  sharp  ridge.  It  was  but  poor 
picking,  and  he  evidently  became  dissatisfied, 
not  only  with  the  want  of  grass,  but  with  his 
master's  speed. 

The  writer  has  somewhat  of  a  reputation  as 
a  fast  walker  and  as  a  man  who  had  led  many 
''Hikes,"  but  walking  on  level  ground  is 
one  thing,  and  on  a  knife-like  mountain  ridge 
with  an  abyss  on  each  side,  is  another.  Now 
without  any  preliminary  warning,  Billie 
rudely  and  swiftly  butted  me  in  the  rear  with 
his  head,  and  with  such  force  that  I  nearly 
fell  to  my  knees.  My  position  was  such  that 
it  made  it  difficult  to  turn  around  and  scold 
him,  without  losing  balance,  and  therefore 
falling  or  sliding  over  one  side  or  the  other. 


AN  INTERESTING  TRAIL      143 

The  danger  was  too  great  for  me  to  experi- 
ment. The  proper  and  only  thing  to  do  was  to 
walk  faster,  and  this  I  did. 

Nothing  happened  until  a  steep  decline 
confronted  us,  and  I  hesitated  for  a  second  or 
two  before  taking  the  first  step.  A  sharp 
bump  from  Billie  partly  lifted  me,  partly 
shoved  me,  down  this  sharp  descent,  so  that 
with  one  arm  on  each  side  of  the  sharp  peak 
I  slid  about  fifteen  feet  until  another  rise  of 
the  edge  gave  me  a  chance  to  get  on  my  feet 
again.  This  novel  trail  led  to  a  mountain 
covered  with  a  few  inches  of  snow,  and  where 
we  first  struck  it,  was  a  level  plot  of  ground. 
Here  we  saw  the  mute  and  indubitable  evi- 
dence of  a  tragedy  that  had  been  enacted  on 
this  plot  not  more  than  an  hour  before.  The 
snow  was  beaten  down,  in  a  rude  circle,  by 
the  claws  of  a  large  bird  and  the  feet  of 
some  animal.  Fresh  blood  was  plentifully 
sprinkled  on  the  snow,  and  some  of  the  wing 
feathers  of  a  large  bird  were  scattered  about. 
The  feathers  of  a  ptarmigan  were  also  in  evi- 
dence here  and  there. 

Looking  over  to  the  left  side  of  the  moun- 
tain, the  trail  of  a  fox  was  found  leading  up- 
hill to  the  scene  of  the  conflict.  The  marks 
of  the  feet  of  the  fox  could  be  easily  recog- 


144  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

nized  in  the  snow.  He  had  a  large,  bushy  tail 
which,  trailing  on  the  snow,  left  its  imprint 
as  he  had  cautiously  and  silently  crawled  up 
the  mountain  side. 

The  solution  of  the  problem  thus  presented 
was  easily  made.  The  big  bird  was  a  hawk 
— probably  a  goshawk,  who  had  swooped 
down  on  the  unsuspecting  ptarmigan,  and, 
striking  his  cruel  talons  into  the  toothsome 
bird,  had  sailed  up  to  the  mountain  top,  the 
prisoner  in  the  meantime  making  a  hard 
struggle  to  escape. 

Mr.  Reynard,  the  fox,  had  heard  the  cry 
of  the  captured  bird,  looked  up,  had  seen  its 
struggles  as  the  hawk  flew  away  with  it,  and 
at  once  made  for  the  top.  His  tracks  showed 
that  until  he  neared  the  summit  he  had  gone 
up  with  good-sized  jumps.  Before  the  sum- 
mit was  reached  he  had  crawled  a  portion  of 
the  way;  then,  getting  close  behind  the  hawk, 
he  had  made  his  usual  spring, — catching  the 
big  bird  by  the  wing.  The  hawk  probably 
dropped  his  prey,  and,  tearing  himself  from 
the  fox's  mouth  by  leaving  his  wing  feathers 
behind  him,  he  had  sailed  away,  leaving  Rey- 
nard in  full  possession  and  with  freedom  to 
finish  the  ptarmigan. 

At  first  we  thought  the  fox  had  devoured 


AN  INTERESTING  TRAIL      145 

the  bird  of  prey  as  well  as  the  grouse,  but  we 
found  no  breast  feathers  of  the  hawk,  while 
the  snow  was  well  covered  Avith  those  of  his 
victim.  Thus  the  snow  enabled  us  to  see  in 
retrospect  the  whole  tragedy  as  if  we  had 
been  eye  witnesses  of  it. 

Says  John  Burroughs:  "A  man  has  a 
sharper  eye  than  a  dog  or  a  fox,  or  than  any 
of  the  wild  creatures,  but  not  so  sharp  an  ear 
or  a  nose;  the  trained  observer  like  most 
sharp-eyed  persons  sees  plenty  of  interesting 
things  as  he  goes  about  his  work." 

It  has  always  been  my  habit — which  seems 
to  be  an  instinct  largely  developed  in  me — to 
use  my  eyes,  cars,  and  sometimes  nose,  when, 
in  pursuit  of  game,  no  matter  where  I  may  be 
hunting  or  what  the  character  of  the  game 
may  be. 

In  the  wilderness  of  Maine  in  the  year  '94, 
I  was  early  one  morning  following  the  fresh 
trail  of  a  large  bull  caribou.  The  trail  ran 
through  a  dense  piece  of  spruce  forest  with  a 
few  pin-oaks  scattered  through.  The  ground 
was  heavily  carpeted  with  a  thick  and  yield- 
ing moss.  The  path  of  the  animal  had  been 
much  traveled  by  a  herd  of  caribou,  and  so 
there  was  no  trouble  whatever  in  following  it. 
It  was,  of  course,  in  the  fall  of  the  year;  the 


146  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

leaves  were  falling  from  the  pin-oak  trees  and 
where  they  were  to  be  found  the  trail  would 
be  littered  with  sere,  sun-browned  leaves. 
On  passing  one  of  these  places  I  noticed  that 
an  oak  leaf  that  lay  on  top  of  the  pile  had  a 
spot  of  red  on  it.  Reaching  down  and  pick- 
ing it  up,  I  discovered  the  spot  to  be  a  drop 
of  blood.  I  examined  it  carefully.  The 
blood  was  from  an  animal  that  had  been 
bleeding  but  recently,  because  it  had  not  be- 
gun to  coagulate.  Being  right  in  the  center 
of  the  path,  it  might  possibly  have  come  from 
a  wounded  caribou.  Of  course,  this  sug- 
gested that  some  one  had  fired  and  hit  the 
bull  that  I  was  following. 

Carefully  laying  the  leaf  down  again,  and 
marking  the  spot  with  two  sticks,  I  hastened 
forward  on  the  trail.  A  close  examination  of 
it  for  a  distance  of  a  mile  and  a  half  showed 
that  the  caribou  was  traveling  at  a  regular 
and  steady  pace  and  no  other  drops  of  blood 
were  on  the  trail;  that  he  had  occasionally 
stooped  to  take  up  a  mouthful  of  moss,  eating 
it  as  he  walked;  that  his  footing  was  firm  and 
regular  so  that  he  could  not  have  been  the 
animal  that  had  lost  that  single  drop  of  blood, 
else  his  movements  would  have  shown  haste 
or  perhaps   staggering.     I   then   turned   and 


AN  INTERESTING  TRAIL      147 

went  back  to  the  leaf,  which  now  showed 
coagulation.  Taking  the  trail  backward,  no 
other  drops  were  discovered,  so  again  to  the 
leaf  I  went  once  more.  I  looked  in  all  di- 
rections, but  no  blood  was  to  be  seen.  Then 
I  looked  upwards.  Overhead  was  an  oak 
tree;  a  large  branch  from  it  spread  out  over 
the  trail.  Hanging  from  the  middle  of  that 
branch  I  saw  something  waving  in  the  gentle 
breeze.  It  seemed  to  be  glued  to  the  side  of 
the  limb,  and  it  was  in  a  perpendicular  line 
with  the  bloody  leaf  below.  The  solution  of 
the  puzzle  came  quickly  now.  The  waving 
thing  was  the  tail  of  a  red  squirrel.  Some 
carnivorous  bird  or  animal — most  likely  a 
marten,  the  red  squirrel's  most  deadly  enemy 
— had  caught  the  saucy  little  fellow  by  the 
back  of  the  neck,  had  killed  and  eaten  him, 
the  blood  flowing  down  the  side  of  the  limb. 
The  tail  had  been  caught  in  the  blood  which 
acted  like  mucilage  to  fix  it  to  the  limb,  and 
one  drop  of  blood  only  had  fallen  to  the 
ground,  finding  a  resting  place  on  the  oak  leaf. 

Now  after  this  digression  we  must  return  to 
the  story  of  our  trail. 

The  snow-covered  mountain  was  crossed, 
and  it  turned  out  to  be  a  divide,  so  down  we 
went  to  another  watershed.     The  canyon  at 


148  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

the   bottom   was   rocky,   with   a   tempestuous 
stream  racing  through  it. 

On  the  far  side  of  the  canyon  the  mountain 
went  up  with  a  precipitous  face  to  an  extreme 
height.  At  the  very  top  was  a  ledge  of  rock 
jutting  out  some  ten  feet.  On  this  rock  a 
young  ram  stood  gazing  down  upon  our 
horses.  The  Chief  said  we  were  out  of  mut- 
ton for  the  table,  and  he  would  like  to  get 
that  ram.  It  seemed  an  impossibility  to  get 
him  at  such  a  distance,  but  he  said:  "Lend  me 
your  Mannlicher — there's  no  telling  how  far 
that  gun  will  carry,  and  I'm  going  to  try  to 
get  him."  So  he  aimed  carefully  and  fired. 
The  ram  did  not  move,  but  seemed  to  be  won- 
dering whence  the  sharp,  spitting  noise  came, 
as  the  bullet  passed  by  him.  The  second  shot 
had  a  similar  result;  the  third  likewise;  and 
the  fourth  and  the  fifth.  On  the  sixth  he 
jumped,  and  ran  to  the  extreme  right  of  the 
rock,  where  he  again  looked  down  upon  us. 
At  the  seventh  he  turned  with  his  stern  to  us. 
At  the  eighth  he  once  more  jumped,  this 
time  to  the  left,  yet  he  was  evidently  so  en- 
tranced that  he  could  not  take  his  e3^es  from 
us  or  the  horses.  The  ninth  seemed  to  be  a 
miss,  as  did  the  tenth,  but  at  the  eleventh 
shot  he  fell  over  the  edge  and  rolled  down 


AN  INTERESTING  TRAIL      149 

the  perpendicular  side  to  within  ten  feet  of 
the  bottom.  The  stream  was  deep  and  swift 
but  not  very  wide,  but  the  rushing  water 
washed  a  large  portion  of  the  rock  on  which 
the  ram  had  fallen.  Taking  a  long  rope  with 
him,  the  Chief  mounted  Charley,  swam  him 
across  the  deepest  of  the  water,  and,  when  the 
other  side  was  reached,  managed  to  get  him  on 
the  rock.  Then  he  gralloched  the  ram,  tied 
him  to  the  saddle,  got  Charley  down  from  the 
rock,  heading  him  for  the  other  side  and 
jumped  on  the  horse  behind  the  sheep. 
Charley  got  across  with  both  the  sheep  and 
the  man  without  trouble. 

The  strangest  part  of  the  shooting  was  that 
when  we  took  the  hide  ofT  the  ram  it  was 
found  that  no  less  than  five  bullets  had  hit 
him,  but  one  bullet  only  had  penetrated  to  a 
vital  spot. 

It  is  likely  that  the  great  distance,  together 
with  shooting  in  an  almost  perpendicular  di- 
rection, deprived  the  bullets  of  their  carrying 
and  crushing  capacity. 

That  night,  which  was  a  cold  one,  we  slept 
out  in  the  open,  and  over  the  wood  fire,  be- 
fore sleep  overtook  us,  we  had  much  to  talk 
about. 

The  reason  the  Chief  did  the  shooting  was 


1^0  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

because  we  needed  meat  for  the  table  and  the 
young  ram's  horns  were  but  partially  grown 
and  therefore  would  make  but  a  poor  trophy 
for  the  hunter.  As  the  law  permits  the  na- 
tives to  kill  game  animals  for  food  it  was  fit- 
ting and  proper  for  the  Chief  to  do  the  shoot- 
ing and  not  one  of  "the  sports." 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  EFFECT  OF  AGE  ON  WILD  ANIMALS 
"Youth  must  ever  be  served." 

ANIMAL  life  has  some  strange  phases. 
This  is  seen  in  studying  the  habits  of  the 
elk,  the  moose,  the  caribou,  and  the  mountain 
ram. 

Some  years  ago  there  was  a  famous  moose 
on  the  headwaters  of  the  Tobique  River  in 
Upper  New  Brunswick.  He  was  an  old 
moose  that  had  been  frequently  shot  at,  and 
therefore  he  was  more  than  ordinarily  sus- 
picious and  cautious  in  his  travels.  On  ac- 
count of  his  age  his  hoofs  were  long  and 
ragged,  that  is  broken  ofif  at  the  sides,  with 
portions  entirely  wanting.  As  an  old  man's 
finger  nails  and  toe  nails  will  break  and 
crack  and  chip  off,  so  will  the  hoofs  of  an  old 
moose.  This  one  was  known  by  the  title  of 
"The  Big  Moose  of  the  Little  Tobique."  In 
soft  spots,  in  muddy  or  clayey  ground,  his 
tracks  showed  up  so  large  that  the  hunters 
could   not   believe   that   they   belonged   to   a 


152  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

member  of  the  moose  family,  and  much  dis- 
cussion was  caused  by  them. 

When  the  writer  first  saw  these  famous 
tracks  on  one  Wednesday  evening,  he  said 
they  were  made  by  some  huge  caribou,  but 
that  night  he  lay  out  on  the  edge  of  a  pond 
where  the  Big  Moose  of  Little  Tobique  was 
accustomed  to  feed,  and  during  that  night 
and  the  nights  of  the  Thursday  and  Friday 
following,  he  had  the  rare  opportunity  of 
watching  him  from  a  distance  without  being 
able  to  make  a  safe  shot.  A  shot  was  finally 
made  on  the  following  Saturday  morning 
when  the  first  streak  of  daylight  appeared. 

A  young  bull  with  two  spike  horns,  mated 
with  a  large  cow,  was  also  feeding  there  each 
night,  and  repeatedly,  when  the  old  bull 
would  wander  a  bit  too  close  to  the  cow,  the 
young  fellow  would  wickedly  rush  at  him 
and  chase  him  away.  This  was  done  several 
times  during  each  night. 

The  old  chap  knew  and  realized  the  fact 
that  his  day  of  fighting  had  gone,  and  that  the 
old  adage  "youth  must  be  served"  is  true  with 
a  bull  moose  as  well  as  with  a  human  being. 
So  he  made  no  attempt  at  resistance;  when 
attacked  he  simply  ran  away  and  that  was 
all. 


EFFECT  OF  AGE  ON  ANIMALS     153 

When  we  had  skinned  him  that  Saturday 
morning  and  taken  off  his  feet,  we  found  that 
one  measured  ii}i  inches  from  toe  to  heel. 
Each  of  the  hoofs  of  the  other  three  feet  was 
broken  and  cracked  at  the  edges,  so  that  they 
did  not  measure  as  much.  The  average  size 
of  a  bull  moose's  feet  is  6^  inches. 

When  a  bull  elk  has  lived  past  his  prime 
some  day  he  will  be  attacked  by  a  pair  of  his 
sons  or  grandsons — young  chaps — agile  and 
strong.  One  youngster  will  attack  him  and 
fight  until  he  is  exhausted,  when  he  will  step 
to  one  side  and  the  other  will  take  his  place, 
while  the  first  one  will  rest.  When  the 
second  one  is  out  of  breath  the  first  one  again 
attacks  his  sire  or  grandsire,  and  so  the  fight 
is  continued  until  the  patriarch  is  finally 
killed.  During  all  of  this  battle,  the  cows 
will  feed  on  placidly  without  paying  the 
slightest  attention  to  the  tragedy  that  is  being 
enacted  before  their  very  eyes. 

With  the  mountain  rams  almost  a  similar 
program  is  carried  out;  in  reality  confirming 
Darwin's  theory  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest. 
The  old  rams  are  driven  away  by  their  sons 
or  grandsons  and  compelled  to  associate  with 
the  young  rams  from  two  to  three  years  old. 

The  horns  of  the  decrepit  old  fellow  may 


1^4  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

be  quite  huge  in  size,  but  they  are  unstable 
and  will  crack  or  part  easily  in  places;  in 
other  words  they  are  no  good,  and  are  unfit 
for  fighting  with  or  for  mounting. 

This  was  the  case  with  the  one  which  I 
killed  on  the  first  day  of  the  season.  The 
Chief  would  not  even  consent  to  my  taking 
the  head  out  as  a  curiosity,  and  therefore  I 
left  it.  So  according  to  the  game  laws  I  had 
still  two  rams  to  get,  and  the  following  day 
after  the  seance  with  the  four  caribou  bulls 
we  were  off  early  in  search  of  a  big  ram. 
Nothing  was  seen  but  an  occasional  bunch  of 
ewes  and  lambs  until  ten  o'clock  had  come, 
when  six  rams  were  discovered  feeding  on  a 
divide  opposite  the  one  over  which  we  were 
traveling.  Between  us  and  the  rams  two 
miles  and  a  half  had  to  be  covered  before  we 
would  be  near  enough  to  shoot,  and,  as  the 
ground  was  open  and  we  would  be  in  full 
view  going  down  one  side  to  the  brook  at  the 
bottom  and  then  climbing  to  the  top  of  the 
far-off  mountain,  there  was  nothing  to  do  but 
to  watch  and  wait.  We  tethered  our  horses 
in  the  canyon  on  a  good  piece  of  grassy 
ground  and  worked  our  way  to— and  up — a 
tall  pinnacle  that  rose  high  in  front  of  the 
feeding  rams,  but  two  miles  from  the  quarry. 


EFFECT  OF  AGE  ON  ANIMALS     155 

There  was  still  considerable  snow  on  the  high 
places.  It  was  soft  snow  and  we  slipped  easily 
and  often.  On  the  extreme  top  of  the  butte  a 
sparcc  growth  of  young  willow  brush  formed 
a  screen,  behind  which  I  lay  down  in  the 
snow  for  a  while,  until  I  found  an  opening 
in  the  rock  at  the  left  side  where  I  could  sit 
as  if  in  an  arm  chair  and  watch  from  my 
point  of  vantage  without  getting  wet  with  the 
melting  snow. 

It  was  about  eleven  o'clock  by  the  time  the 
Chief  and  I  were  comfortably  fixed  for  a  long 
vigil.  The  rams  fed  a  while  and  then  came 
dov/n  from  the  peak  of  the  mountain  and 
walked  out  upon  a  ledge,  whence  they  could 
see  what  was  going  on  in  every  direction. 
They  cleared  away  the  snow  with  their  feet  and 
th.e  whole  bunch  lay  down — four  of  them  to 
sleep  apparently,  while  the  ram  at  each  end 
kept  an  alert  watch.  With  the  noon-time 
came  the  desire  for  lunch,  which  we  ate  with 
zest.  For  a  while  afterwards  I  could  not  help 
going  to  sleep  and  thus  kept  company  with 
the  sleeping  rams  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
divide.  When  I  awoke  the  sheep  were  stand- 
ing up,  right  in  the  sun,  and  a  more  glorious 
sight  it  would  be  hard  to  see  anywhere,  their 
graceful    heads    and   horns    and    their   milk- 


1^6  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

white    bodies    showing    boldly    against    the 
green. 

At  2.30  a  flock  of  young  rams  appeared  on 
the  top  of  their  peak  and  commenced  to  feed 
down  the  mountain.  There  were  with  them 
two  old  "banished"  rams,  who  seemed  to  be 
nervously  watching  the  six  rams  in  front  of 
us.  The  Chief  said  that  when  all  of  the 
youngsters  should  come  in  sight  of  the 
"big  six,"  the  old  fellows  would  start  a 
stampede,  and  the  youngsters  as  well  as  the 
two  big  ones  would  run  down  and  across  to 
our  side,  and  up  over  our  divide.  Then  the 
"big  six"  would  follow  them  at  their  leisure. 
This  was  done  to  the  letter.  The  flock  of 
youngsters  and  the  two  discarded  rams  num- 
bered in  all  thirty-one.  They  came  down 
and  crossed  the  canyon,  climbed  up  our  side, 
and  soon  disappeared  from  view.  The  "big 
six"  were  now  up  and  in  motion.  Soon  they 
commenced  to  run  down  as  the  others  had 
done.  They  hesitated,  however,  in  the  can- 
yon, and  we  could  not  see  them  down  there 
as  we  were  not  close  enough  to  the  edge  of 
the  mountain.  So  for  a  while  we  had  to 
conjecture  as  to  which  way  they  would  take 
in  climbing  past  us.     If  they  went  to  the  left 


EFFECT  OF  AGE  ON  ANIMALS     157 

of  us,  we  should  lose  them;  if  to  the  right,  I 
might  perhaps  get  a  shot  as  they  passed.  But 
it  was  problematic. 

There  were  three  rams  with  good  heads 
and  three  with  smaller  horns.  One  of  the 
first  three  had  an  exceptionally  good  head, 
and,  of  course,  that  was  the  one  I  wanted. 
Considerable  time  elapsed  before  we  saw 
them  again,  during  which  period  we  had 
crossed  around  the  butte  to  the  right,  as  that 
seemed  the  most  likely  route  for  them  to  take. 
On  this  side  the  willow  brush  was  thick  and 
the  bushes  were  high.  Before  having  either 
heard  or  seen  any  member  of  the  bunch,  two 
of  the  smaller  ones  had  climbed  up  our  side 
and  stood  right  up  in  the  brush  and  stared  me 
in  the  face  only  ten  feet  off.  Here  they  got 
my  scent  and  it  took  but  a  few  seconds  for 
them  to  get  away.  The  noise  they  made 
startled  three  more  and  they  came  running 
up  the  right  side  too,  while  the  sixth  and  last 
one  disappeared  to  the  left,  and  we  saw  him 
no  more.  As  the  three  were  coming  straight 
toward  us,  on  the  jump,  I  easily  picked  out 
the  big  one  and,  withholding  my  shot  until  he 
got  to  a  level  with  the  pinnacle  we  were  on, 
I   was   fortunate   enough   to   place   a   bullet 


158  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

through  his  heart.  He  rolled  down  and 
down  until  he  fell  on  the  rock  at  the  foot  of 
the  canyon. 

It  was  four  o'clock  and,  while  the  Chief 
went  down  after  the  ram  to  dress  him,  I  built 
a  fire  and  soon  had  water  boiling  for  the  mate. 
When  the  Chief  returned  we  ate  the  balance 
of  our  lunch  and  drank  a  couple  of  cups  of 
mate.  Leading  the  horse  and  Billie  down  to 
the  bottom,  the  Chief  put  the  ram  on  Charley's 
back  and  we  were  off  on  our  long  journey  to 
the  camp,  arriving  at  ten  o'clock  and  finding 
all  the  others  in  bed  asleep. 

This  day  of  all  the  days  of  hunting  will  be 
well  remembered  as  a  comfortable  one,  be- 
cause, from  the  peculiar  position  we  were  in, 
we  watched  the  rams  for  six  hours  in  complete 
comfort.  While  the  weather  was  indeed 
cold  and  the  wind  was  somewhat  high,  we 
were  well  sheltered,  and  did  not  feel  it. 
Above  all  else  w^e  had  a  splendid  opportunity 
of  closely  observing  these  beautiful,  rare  and 
interesting  animals  for  a  whole  half  day,  first 
feeding,  next  as  they  were  lying  at  rest,  and 
lastly  when  they  were  on  the  run. 


CHAPTER  XI 

STILL  ANOTHER  CHANGE  OF  BASE 

"How  lush  and  lusty  the  grass  looks!  how  green! 
Had  I  a  plantation  of  this  isle,  my  lord, 
All  things  in  common  nature  should  produce, 
Without  sweat  or  endeavor." 

THE  morning  after  the  successful  all-day 
stalk  of  the  big  caribou,  we  packed  up 
and  left  early  for  another  section  of  this  wide 
country  where  moose  might  be  found.  Our 
course  followed  a  rushing  creek  where  a  por- 
tion of  the  journey  was  made  on  a  tableland 
comparatively  easy  to  travel. 

At  first  the  only  vegetation  of  moment  that 
was  to  be  seen  were  patches  of  Willow  brush. 
When  we  had  eaten  lunch  and  covered  an- 
other mile  or  so,  we  came  to  a  piece  of  well- 
timbered  ground  and  saw  many  moose  signs, 
but  none  of  them  at  all  fresh.  The  ground 
was  a  succession  of  fair-sized  hills  and  valleys 
where  rich  grass  was  growing,  with  here  and 
there  a  small  lake.  On  the  hillside  leading 
to  one  of  these  beautiful  sheets  of  water  I  sat 


i6o  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

down  in  a  piece  of  dense  underbrush,  where 
I  could  look  out  on  the  water  w^ithout  being 
seen.  There  I  used  the  moose  horn  and 
called  for  an  hour.  During  this  time  the 
peculiar  sound  of  the  horn  actually  seemed  to 
entrance  a  cock  ptarmigan,  which  came  walk- 
ing along  from  some  little  distance  and  strut- 
ted around  in  full  sight  of  me,  all  the  while 
giving  vent  to  a  guttural  clucking  sound. 
Once  he  made  a  complete  circle  around  my 
hiding  place;  when  he  arrived  in  front  again 
he  stood  still,  looking  at  me,  and  turning  his 
head  from  side  to  side  as  if  curious  to  find 
out  who  and  what  I  was. 

Receiving  no  answer  to  my  call  from  the 
animal  for  which  the  call  was  intended,  we 
reluctantly  left  this  most  beautiful  location, 
and  found  our  way  to  the  place  where  our 
men  had  in  the  meantime  found  a  good  camp- 
ing location  and  had  pitched  the  tents  for  the 
night. 

The  following  morning  we  crossed  a  con- 
siderable elevation  where  there  was  much 
boggy  ground  and  a  fair  piece  of  timber  land 
mainly  covered  with  balsam  firs  and  spruce 
trees.  Down  the  far  side  of  this  low  moun- 
tain was  a  valley  containing  some  little  grass. 
The  bottom  land  was  well  covered  with  vol- 


ANOTHER  CHANGE  OF  BASE     i6i 

canic  pumice-sand,  which  shone  white  in  the 
sun. 

In  our  journeys  to  the  different  hunting 
grounds  where  we  spent  from  one  to  several 
days,  we  frequently  found  places  where  the 
pumice-sand  showed  on  the  sides  of  the  moun- 
tains, high  up,  where  the  light  soil  had  given 
away  from  a  snow  slide  or  heavy  rains  and 
thus  left  the  pumice-sand  exposed.  This  was 
the  first  spot,  however,  where  we  found  the 
bottom  land  partly  covered  with  this  vol- 
canic deposit.  On  crossing  the  valley  we  saw 
the  mute  evidences  of  a  fierce  fight  that  had 
taken  place  between  two  large  bull  moose  ap- 
parently during  the  preceding  night.  Each 
of  the  combatants  had  fought  with  all  his 
might.  When  two  human  rivals  become  so 
bitter  and  vindictive  as  to  warrant  each  one 
in  saying  "Ell  fight  till  from  my  bones  my 
flesh  be  hacked,"  we  can  have  some  idea  of 
the  fury  of  the  ensuing  conflict.  This  was 
the  sight  we  saw  that  morning  in  the  latter 
days  of  September. 

The  white  pumice-sand  was  splotched  with 
blood.  What  little  vegetation  had  been  able 
to  thrive  on  the  thin  covering  of  soil  over  the 
pumice  deposits  had  been  trampled  to  the 
ground  or  torn  up  by  the  roots  in  the  fury  of 


i62  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

the  contest.  The  signs  of  blood  were  every- 
where to  be  seen. 

Early  on  this  morning,  a  few  minutes  be- 
fore coming  upon  this  moose  battlefield,  I 
had  chided  the  Chief  for  wearing  a  pair  of 
khaki  trousers  on  a  moose  hunt,  as  the  swish  of 
the  trousers  when  they  rubbed  against  each 
other  could  be  heard  for  a  good  distance 
away.  He  evidently  remembered  this,  for, 
getting  down  on  his  knees,  he  rolled  his 
trousers  so  high  that  they  were  silent  as  he 
walked.  We  must  now  be  very  close  to  one 
of  the  real  giants  of  the  moose  family. 

The  trail  of  the  largest  moose  led  up  hill 
into  the  big  timber,  while  that  of  his  rival 
led  along  the  bottom  land  to  the  left.  Natu- 
rally we  commenced  to  follow  the  one  that  had 
gone  into  the  timber.  The  trail  was  fresh 
and  in  places  bloody.  As  soon  as  we  entered 
the  timber  we  dropped  on  our  hands  and 
knees  and  made  haste  slowly  but  surely.  The 
trail  showed  that  our  bull  was  accompanied 
by  one  or  more  cows,  and  a  small  track 
showed  that  a  young  moose — very  likely  a 
spike  horn— also  was  in  the  bunch. 

We  came  to  two  balsam  fir  trees  standing 
close  together.  I  was  on  the  left  side  of  the 
trees;    the    Chief    on    the    right.     Here    we 


u 


w 


H 


ANOTHER  CHANGE  OF  BASE     163 

rested  a  bit,  looked,  and  listened.  The  Chief 
whispered:  ''There  goes  a  cow  to  the  right — 
there's  another,  an  old  one.  She's  just  got 
up.  There's  still  another  cow  and  a  spike 
horn."  None  of  these  had  I  seen  because 
they  were  on  the  wrong  side  of  my  tree.  The 
Chief  motioned  for  me  to  rise  up  on  my 
knee  and  to  be  ready  to  shoot.  I  now  crept 
over  to  his  side  and  hardly  had  I  arrived  be- 
fore an  immense  bull  moose  rose  up  and 
started  for  the  peak  of  the  mountain.  I  did 
not  see  his  antlers,  nor  the  front  part  of  his 
body,  but  I  managed  to  get  a  shot  into  his  left 
hip  which  smashed  the  bone.  He  seemed  to 
possess  a  supernatural  power  for  getting  into 
shady  places  and  keeping  out  of  sight  by 
swiftly  dodging  from  tree  to  tree.  The  shoot- 
ing was  generally  of  the  snap-shot  variety  as 
I  was  not  able  to  see  him  in  full  until  after  I 
had  heard  the  crash  (jf  his  fall;  then,  I 
realized  what  a  mammoth  he  was.  The  pur- 
suit had  been  longer  than  we  had  expected, 
as  the  distance  from  where  the  first  shot  was 
fired  to  the  place  where  he  fell  was  over  nine 
hundred  paces. 

When  we  were  near  enough  to  look  him 
over,  we  discovered  that  his  rival  had  driven 
the  long  point  of  an  antler  into  otir  bull's 


i64  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

lungs,  leaving  an  opening  large  enough  for 
me  to  put  my  whole  fist  into.  When  the 
scalp  was  removed  it  revealed  a  dreadful 
looking  mass  of  puss,  while  the  flesh  was  ham- 
mered and  bruised  beyond  belief.  The  re- 
moval of  the  hide  the  next  day  showed  a  simi- 
lar condition  of  the  lower  part  of  the  body, 
while  another  swipe  of  the  antlers  had  pene- 
trated the  tough  hide  on  his  right  rump  and 
ripped  it  open  for  a  length  of  thirteen  inches. 
Unquestionably  his  rival  must  have  had  the 
best  of  the  fight  and  yet  he  did  not  know  it. 
This  big  bull  would  have  had  a  sure  but  per- 
haps a  lingering  death  in  two  or  three  days, 
as  the  tearing  of  the  hide  and  the  dreadful 
opening  into  the  lungs  would  surely  have 
finished  him.  As  our  bull  came  off  with  the 
three  cows  under  his  charge,  he  was  in  truth 
the  victor,  the  battle  having  been  made  solely 
to  determine  which  bull  should  control  these 
three  complacent  cows  and  compel  them  to 
acknowledge  him  as  their  master. 

This  moose  had  a  spread  of  antlers  of  sixty- 
one  and  a  half  inches,  not  nearly  as  wide  as 
those  of  the  young  bull  that  was  saved  by  a 
sandfly,  whose  spread  we  estimated  as  seventy 
inches.  But  there  was  no  comparison  when 
the  size  of  their  bodies  was  considered.     This 


ANOTHER  CHANGE  OF  BASE     165 

one  measured  seven  feet  one  and  one-half 
inches  from  the  bottom  of  his  fore  hoofs  to  the 
top  of  his  shoulders.  A  modest  estimate  of 
his  weight  as  he  fell  would  be  fourteen  hun- 
dred and  fifty  pounds — so  said  the  guides  at 
any  rate.  Of  course  the  cows  disappeared 
from  view,  and  presumably  within  a  few 
hours  when  their  appetites  prompted  them 
they  would  commence  feeding  again  as  if 
nothing  had  happened.  The  big  bull  would 
be  forgotten,  while  his  opponent  of  the  night 
before  would  no  doubt  claim  their  allegiance. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  know  in  w^hat  con- 
dition the  new  master  of  the  harem  would  be 
in,  as  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  he  man- 
aged to  get  away  without  a  good  hammering 
from  his  big  rival.  Who  knows  but  what  he 
might  be  ripped  and  torn  as  badly,  if  not 
worse,  than  our  hero  was,  and  if  so  he  was 
greatly  to  be  pitied.  What  a  crashing  of 
horns  in  the  still  hours  of  the  night — what 
grunting  and  what  a  "blowing  of  bellows" 
there  must  have  been  while  that  midnight 
duel  was  being  fought  to  a  finish!  To  have 
been  only  a  listener  if  not  a  spectator  of  this 
thrilling  moose  duel  would  in  itself  have  been 
something  to  remember  for  years. 


CHAPTER  XII 

"how  much  will  you  bet  that  you'll  not 
kill  a  bear  to-day?  " 

"A  red-letter  day. 
One  from  many  singled  out. 
One  of  those  heavenly  days  that  cannot  die." 

WE  tarried  two  more  days  at  this  moose 
resort  when  my  companion  succeeded 
in  killing  a  bull  with  a  fifty-three  inch  spread, 
and  the  camp  was  once  more  taken  down  and 
a  pilgrimage  was  made  to  another  section 
where  sheep  abounded.  We  had  need  of 
mutton  for  the  table,  so  this  day  the  Chief  and 
I  managed  to  kill  three  young  rams  after  a 
somewhat  difficult  stalk  and  we  were  thus 
supplied  with  enough  fresh  meat  to  last  us 
about  a  week.  It  may  be  remembered  that 
there  were  seven  of  us  in  all  and  it  took  good 
sized  rations  to  satisfy  our  ravenous  appetites, 
for  in  this  bracing  air  and  with  the  continu- 
ous hard  outdoor  work  which  was  our  daily 
portion  we  needed  a  liberal  food  supply. 
"Now  good  digestion  wait  on  appetite,  and 


"HOW  MUCH  WILL  YOU  BET?'^     167 

health  on  both"  is  a  good  invocation,  but  it 
was  never  needed  by  any  one  in  our  outfit. 
We  had  an  undoubtedly  good  digestion,  and, 
as  for  health,  it  often  seemed  to  me  while  up 
there  that  I  was  back  again  in  my  boyhood 
days  living  on  frugal  fare,  with  plenty  of  hard 
work.  In  the  west  where  the  air  is  keen, 
pure,  and  bracing,  with  nothing  to  worry 
about,  with  an  abundance  of  hope  and  "great 
expectations,"  I  was  light-hearted  and  happy, 
and  the  owner  of  a  digestion  that  could  make 
a  feast  out  of  a  raw  turnip  freshly  plucked 
from  a  farmer's  field. 

It  is  an  impossibility  to  make  the  reader  ap- 
preciate the  beneficent  effect  of  the  rare  at- 
mosphere in  this  semi-arid  territory  so  near 
the  edge  of  the  Arctic  circle.  You  may  well 
expect  that  it  is  exhilarating,  that  you  would 
want  to  run,  to  shout,  to  whistle,  and  to  play 
boyish  pranks  as  of  old.  When  you  are 
finally  settled  down  for  a  period  of  weeks  or 
months,  and  all  care  is  off  your  mind,  you  feci 
like  saying:  "I  cannot  speak  enough  of  this 
content.     It  stops  me  here — it  is  too  much 

joy." 

The  next  morning  the  Chief  said  to  me: 
"How  much  will  you  bet  that  you'll  not  kill  a 
bear  to-day?" 


i68  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

"A  hundred  to  one,"  was  the  reply. 

"Well,  I  have  here  two  new  clean  pillow 
sacks,  and  I'm  taking  them  along  to  hold  the 
fat  from  the  bear  you  are  to  kill  this  very  day." 

Of  course  I  laughed  at  him,  and  told  him 
he  was  but  "kidding"  me.  We  had  looked 
for  bear,  watched  their  tracks,  and  seen 
where  they  had  been  feeding  for  many  and 
many  a  day,  yet  but  two  animals  of  that  spe- 
cies had  been  seen  and  neither  of  them  gave 
me  a  chance  for  a  shot.  Now  why  so  very 
confident  this  morning?  The  only  answer 
was  the  old,  old  one — "Just  you  wait  and  see." 

Our  route  for  the  day  led  up  through  a 
well-timbered  section.  On  the  very  top  of 
the  highest  point  we  passed  an  Indian  grave 
that  had  been  made  years  and  years  ago. 
Some  trinkets  were  still  adhering  to  the  little 
cabin  which  covered  the  dead  man's  remains : 
a  tin  cup  now  rusted  with  age,  an  arrow  with 
a  copper  point,  an  iron  knife  and  some  other 
little  luxuries  to  help  the  dead  brave  on  his 
journey  to  the  land  of  "The  Great  Spirit." 

From  this  modest  burial  ground  our  trail 
led  down,  and  ever  down,  until  we  came  to 
the  bottom — a  soft  and  boggy  bottom,  with 
tall  willow  bushes  to  bother  us  as  we  forced 
our  way  through.     Then  a  mile  and  a  half 


"HOW  MUCH  WILL  YOU  BET?''    169 

more,  and  we  came  in  sight  of  a  wide  river 
bed,  with  a  stream  on  our  side  carrying  a  rag- 
ing flood  of  water  caused  by  a  recent  warm 
spell.  There  was  a  strong  wind  to  help  the 
current  on,  while  on  the  far  side  of  the  river's 
bed,  more  than  two  miles  across,  still  another 
stream  equally  large  and  equally  swift 
forced  its  way  down,  the  two  streams  finally 
enter  the  Yukon  River  and  in  that  great  riv- 
er's embrace  they  at  last  emerge  into  Behring 
Sea. 

When  we  came  to  the  edge  of  the  first  chan- 
nel, it  behooved  us  to  be  wary  in  finding  a 
fitting  place  to  cross,  as  frequently  in  these 
swift-rushing  streams  quicksands  abound. 
Having  picked  out  a  place  that  seemed  all 
right,  we  slowly  entered  the  water.  With 
Charley  leading,  and  Billie  and  I  following, 
we  got  safely  across,  but  the  water  having 
surged  up  around  our  legs  we  were  just  a  bit 
wet. 

Where  we  landed  on  the  opposite  shore  was 
a  little  depression  with  some  grass  on  the  bot- 
tom. Here  we  dismounted,  and  the  Chief, 
using  Charley's  back  as  a  rest  for  the  glasses, 
commenced  to  explore  the  river  bed  to  see  if 
any  game  was  in  sight.  Presently  he  passed 
the  glasses  to  me  and  pointed  in  the  direction 


170  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

of  the  farther  side  of  the  river  to  a  moving 
animal  that  he  took  to  be  a  wolverine,  but 
that  I  thought  w^as  a  bear.  It  proved  that 
I  was  right,  for  it  really  was  a  silver-tipped 
grizzly.  He  was  feeding  on  bear-root  or 
wild  parsnips.  He  would  stop  and  dig 
for  two  or  three  minutes  at  a  time,  pulling 
up  the  roots  with  his  claws,  and  then  he 
would  pass  on  to  another  bunch.  He  was 
perhaps  two  miles  away  in  a  direct  line 
and  a  mile  further  down  stream  than  we 
were.  The  wind  was  blowing  crossways.  If 
the  bear  followed  his  present  line  of  travel,  he 
would  naturally  keep  on  until  he  struck  the 
river  on  our  side,  and  swimming  across  he 
would  head  for  the  timber  that  we  had  just 
left.  This  was  the  Chief's  judgment,  and  he 
was  right.  If  the  wind,  which  was  blowing 
very  strong,  maintained  its  present  course  and 
the  bear  his  line  of  travel,  he  would  strike  our 
scent  about  a  hundred  yards  before  he  reached 
the  river.  Our  only  chance  of  a  successful 
stalk  was  to  work  over  at  right  angles  to  his 
course.  So  tethering  our  mounts,  we  kept  a 
sharp  watch  on  the  bear's  movements.  We 
ran  when  he  was  digging,  and  then  dropped 
down  on  all  fours  while  he  was  walking. 
For  three-quarters  of  an  hour  we  made  good 


"HOW  MUCH  WILL  YOU  BET?"    171 

progress,  then  as  he  came  nearer  it  was  neces- 
sary to  keep  on  our  knees  while  he  was  dig- 
ging, and  flat  on  the  ground  during  his  walk- 
ing periods. 

In  this  way  we  came  to  a  small  stream  run- 
ning into  the  main  channel,  which  was  on  our 
left.  This  brook  we  waded,  with  the  water 
above  our  knees,  and  when  across  it  we  took 
to  crawling  on  our  hands  and  knees,  behind 
the  shelter  of  the  slight  embankment  of  the 
river,  which  consisted  of  nothing  but  loose 
stones  and  gravel.  As  may  be  imagined,  the 
frail  bank  frequently  broke  down  with  our 
w^eight,  not  only  making  some  noise  but  often 
rolling  us  into  the  shallow  water  at  the  edge 
of  the  river.  This  program  was  continued 
with  as  much  celerity  as  we  could  acquire 
under  the  peculiar  circumstances,  the  bear  in 
the  meantime  keeping  up  not  only  his  dig- 
ging, but  the  straight  line  of  travel  on  which 
he  had  started.  A  slight  shift  in  the  wind 
occurred  that  was  bad  for  us. 

*'Now  look  out,"  the  Chief  whispered, 
"he'll  get  our  scent  in  a  few  minutes,  and  at 
once  he  will  rush  for  the  river;  we  must  then 
jump  up  and  run  as  fast  as  we  can,  while  he  is 
swimming  across." 

At  this  time  we  were  about  five  hundred 


172  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

yards  away.  Not  two  minutes  after  the 
Chief's  remark  we  saw  that  the  bear  had  got- 
ten our  scent.  Without  looking  to  the  right 
or  to  the  left  he  bolted  for  the  river,  and  how 
he  did  get  over  the  ground!  Now  v/e  ran  as 
fast  as  we  could,  and  the  bear  swam,  as  fast  as 
he  could.  He  was  not  very  long  in  crossing. 
A  few  seconds  before  he  got  to  the  bank  I 
stopped  and  raised  the  three-hundred-yard 
sight  of  the  Mannlicher  and  when  he  emerged 
from  the  water  I  took  careful  aim  at  his  left 
hip.  The  bullet  struck  fair,  crushing  the  hip- 
bone. 

The  river  bank  at  this  point  was  four  feet 
high,  but  with  the  left  leg  dragging  he  was 
soon  on  top  of  the  bank.  The  next  shot  also 
hit  him,  and  he  at  once  rose  on  his  hind  feet, 
fell  over  on  his  back,  and  rolled  again  down 
the  bank.  He  turned  over,  and  with  his  fore 
feet  dragged  himself  up  the  bank  a  second 
time,  the  third  shot  missing  him  as  he  now  dis- 
appeared from  view.  Of  course  we  felt  sure 
that  he  was  down  for  good,  but  it  was  necessary 
to  travel  back  to  where  Billie  and  Charley 
were  tethered  (a  distance  of  a  mile),  mount 
them,  swim  and  ford  the  river,  and  then  follow 
down,  above  the  bank  among  the  timber,  on 
the  other  side.     This  took  considerable  time. 


o 


"HOW  MUCH  WILL  YOU  BET?"    173 

We  carefully  made  our  way  down  stream  on 
the  other  side  and  soon  came  to  the  bear.  He 
was  prone  on  the  ground,  but  was  still  alive, 
and  another  shot  was  necessary  to  finish  him. 

The  wind  had  now  increased  to  a  gale. 
We  took  the  skin  off  and  found  that  the 
second  bullet  had  struck  him  under  the  spine, 
passing  along  for  nine  inches,  and  then  coming 
out  through  the  spine  again,  so  that  the  spinal 
cord  was  cut  in  two  places,  thus  paralyzing 
the  hind  legs. 

The  Chief  produced  his  two  clean,  white 
bags,  and  the  rich  fat  on  the  back  and  intes- 
tines of  the  bear  filled  them  as  full  as  they 
would  hold.  We  found  that  the  stomach  was 
crammed  full  of  the  bear-root,  a  good  bit  of  it 
being  well  digested;  all  in  all  he  was  in  prime 
condition. 

I  was  now  reminded  of  my  bet  of  one  hun- 
dred to  one  against  my  getting  a  bear,  and  the 
Chief  took  much  pleasure  in  "rubbing  it  in." 

It  need  not  be  said  that  I  was  much  pleased 
with  the  successful  stalk  made  under  such 
peculiar  and  trying  conditions.  Fortunately 
I  had  on  the  saddle  a  pair  of  dry  shoes  and 
socks,  and,  the  wet  ones  having  been  ex- 
changed for  these,  we  made  a  fire,  cooked  our 
mate,    and    ate   our   lunch   with    rare    appe- 


174  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

tites.  Strapping  the  two  sacks  of  bear  fat 
and  the  hide  and  head  on  Charley,  we  left  the 
scene  of  action  at  about  three  o'clock,  having 
been  under  continuous  excitement  for  four 
hours,  from  the  time  the  bear  was  first  seen  un- 
til the  final  shot  was  delivered.  In  the  past 
we  have  read  much  of  the  ferocity  of  the 
grizzly  bear  and  how  he  will  attack  a  human 
being  on  sight.  This  might  have  been  so  in 
the  time  of  the  old  muzzle-loading  rifle,  with 
black  powder  and  a  copper  cap  to  explode  the 
powder  with;  but  now  the  Ursus  Horribilis  is 
a  wise  and  cautious  fellow.  Instinct  tells  him 
to  beware  of  the  repeating  rifle  and  its  savage 
and  destructive  bullet.  So  at  the  scent  or  the 
sight  of  man  he  sprints  for  the  tall  timber  and 
is  soon  out  of  sight. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

"it  never  rains  but  it  pours" 

"For  raging  winds  blow  up  incessant  showers,  and 
when  the  rage  allays,  the  rain  begins." 

AGAINST  the  wind,  now  blowing  a  gale 
directly  in  our  faces,  we  led  the  horse 
and  Billie.  We  were  passing  through  the 
piece  of  timber  described  in  the  chapter  re- 
lating of  the  killing  of  the  bear.  We  had 
gone  perhaps  a  half  mile  when,  coming  to  an 
open  place,  we  had  an  unobstructed  view  of 
the  river  bed  for  a  long  distance.  Some  large 
animal  of  a  reddish  brown  color,  which  we 
took  for  a  cow,  was  seen  ofif  in  the  distance. 
It  was  walking  in  our  direction  and  with  the 
wind.  It  stopped  and  turned  broadside  to  us 
and  then  turned  completely  around.  We  now 
made  it  out  to  be  a  very  large  female  grizzly 
bear,  and  she  was  soon  joined  by  two  silver 
tip  yearling  cubs. 

Having  within  the  hour  finished  skinning 
one  bear,  and  now  seeing  three  in  a  bunch,  we 
could  not  help  feeling  jubilant.     We  also  felt 


176  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

confident  of  success  in  getting  tlie  whole  three, 
as  the  wind  could  not  be  better.  They  were, 
like  the  first  bear,  feeding  on  bear-roots.  A 
small  cove  was  found  near  by  where  we 
tethered  our  horses  so  that  they  would  not  give 
us  any  trouble. 

We  now  got  in  among  small  willow  brush, 
and  away  from  the  river  bed.  Keeping 
down  on  our  knees  we  made  fair  progress 
towards  the  bears.  The  yearlings  being  black 
and  the  mother  a  reddish  brown,  it  was  the 
easiest  thing  to  keep  them  well  in  view,  by 
rising  occasionally  behind  a  tall  willow 
bush. 

When  first  seen  they  were  fully  three  miles 
from  us,  and  traveling  at  about  the  same  speed 
towards  us  as  the  first  one  did  which  I  killed. 

The  wind  now  became  erratic,  the  sky 
grew  dark,  and  it  looked  as  if  we  were  to  be  af- 
flicted with  a  crashing  thunderstorm.  How- 
ever, as  quickly  as  this  aerial  storm  had  come, 
did  it  subside,  and  we  had  only  a  strong  wind 
blowing  straight  down  stream.  The  cubs 
were  inclined  to  be  independent  in  their  feed- 
ing, as  they  fed  far  afield  from  each  other. 
This  propensity  of  her  offspring  to  "go  it  on 
their  own  hook"  bothered  the  old  lady  bear 
considerably.     From  what  we  could  see  of  her 


"IT  NEVER  RAINS"  177 

actions,  she  apparently  would  scold  them,  and 
then  coax  them  to  come  nearer  to  her.  On 
the  whole,  they  took  their  time  in  search  for 
that  dainty  dish — the  bear-root — quite  calmly, 
and  seemed  not  to  anticipate  any  danger  what- 
ever. 

So  we  slowly  traveled  up  stream  by  way  of 
the  timber  land,  and  they  down  stream  by  way 
of  the  river  bottom.  We  consequently  were 
getting  nearer  and  nearer  to  each  other  every 
minute. 

But  what  is  that?  Something  has  hap- 
pened. The  mother  bear  has  signaled  the 
youngsters  to  come  to  her.  They  obey  her 
orders,  and  join  her.  She  leads  them  to  the 
river  bank,  and  there  the  three  stand  looking 
across  the  river,  and  not  down  it.  Have  they 
gotten  a  whiff  of  our  scent? 

"No,"  says  the  Chief;  "the  wind  is  all  to  the 
good.  Maybe  there's  another  bear  coming  up 
behind  them." 

We  were  now  not  over  four  hundred  yards 
away.  As  I  very  much  feared  a  sudden 
change  in  the  wind,  which  might  carry  our 
scent  to  them,  my  judgment  was  to  try  to  kill 
or  wound  one  of  the  yearlings.  If  that  was 
done  it  would  hold  the  mother  and  the  other 
cub. 


178  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

The  Chief  seemed  to  feel  sure  that  all  was 
well,  and  was  confident  that  I  would  get  the 
whole  bunch.  Therefore,  we  kept  on  crawl- 
ing on  all  fours.  Without  any  foreknowledge 
we  came  to  a  piece  of  ground  where  a  fire  had 
swept  it  clear  both  of  willow  brush  and  of 
grass.  This  compelled  us  to  lie  down  fiat  and 
pull  ourselves  along  as  best  we  could.  This 
bare  place  was  soon  crossed  and  we  re-entered 
the  willow  brush.  On  looking  up  now,  we 
were  astonished  to  find  that  the  mother  bear 
had  led  the  cubs  into  the  edge  of  the  timber, 
where  she  was  standing  and  looking  down  our 
way.  Here  I  first  became  sensible  of  the  fact 
that  the  wind  had  changed  some,  and  once 
more  my  judgment  said  "shoot  at  one  of  the 
cubs."  However,  the  Chief  was  still  optimis- 
tic and  satisfied  that  all  was  going  well.  An- 
other fire-cleansed  piece  of  ground  confronted 
us,  and  another  bit  of  crawling  had  to  be 
undertaken.  This  having  been  crossed,  we 
raised  ourselves  behind  a  couple  of  spruce 
trees  and  then  spied  out  the  land  ahead  of  us. 

Now  what  do  you  think  we  saw? 

Nothing. 

The  bears  were  gone  and  gone  forever. 

Why  had  they  gone? 

Wait.     The  Chief  is  climbing  a  tree  and 


"IT  NEVER  RAINS" 


179 


he'll  soon  locate  them.  Step  by  step  from  one 
branch  to  another  he  climbed  to  the  very  top 
of  a  good-sized  tree,  but  no  bears  were  to  be 
seen.  When  he  came  down  he  was  angry,  non- 
plussed and  mystified.  We  hurried  along  un- 
til we  came  to  their  tracks,  and  one  glance  at 
those  told  the  whole  story,  for  by  the  tracks  we 
saw  where  they  had  started  for  the  tall  tim- 
ber with  a  rush.  The  wind  had  undoubtedly 
turned  just  enough  for  the  keen-scented  mother 
bear  to  detect  danger  to  herself  and  her  of]f- 
spring,  and  she  had  not  stood  on  "the  order 
of  her  going." 

What  a  sudden  transition  it  was  from  the 
calm  confidence  that  possessed  us  of  bagging 
the  three  to  the  despair  of  finding  them  gone! 
Oh,  for  a  bear  dog  just  now  to  follow  their 
trail,  and  bring  them  to  a  halt!  He  would  be 
worth  his  weight  in  gold.  Such  a  dog  we  had, 
but  she  was  in  no  condition  to  hunt  and  there- 
fore had  been  left  to  travel  with  the  pack  out- 
fit, which  was  miles  away  from  us  at  this 
critical  time  when  so  much  needed. 

There  was  no  need  in  moralizing;  it  would 
do  no  good. 

We  went  back  after  Charley  and  Billie,  and 
wended  our  way  to  the  next  camping  place, 
which  we  did  not  reach  until  late  in  the  night. 


i8o  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

The  Chief  was  taciturn  and  reticent  all  the 
long  way  to  camp. 

"A  penny  for  your  thoughts,"  said  I. 

"I  have  none  whatever,"  he  replied. 

I  tried  to  comfort  him,  but  "from  thai 
spring  where  comfort  seemed  to  come,  discom- 
fort swells,"  and  he  "would  none  of  it."  At 
such  a  time  it  is  best  to  be  left  alone.  So  we 
silently  went  to  supper  and  as  silently  crawled 
into  our  sleeping  bags,  and  slept.  On  the 
morrow  speech  came  back  to  him,  and  he  can- 
didly blamed  himself  for  all  of  our  bad  for- 
tune. But  the  incident  was  now  ended,  and 
I  told  him  "the  less  said,  the  easier  mended." 

It's  an  old  adage  to  "never  count  your 
chickens  until  they  are  hatched."  For  over 
an  hour  we  had  been  supremely  confident  that 
we  would  return  to  camp  with  four  bears  in 
place  of  one,  and  I  had  imagined  how  proud  I 
would  be  to  lay  down  on  the  parlor  floor  at 
home  four  bear  skins  nicely  tanned  and  lined 
and  all  secured  within  one  afternoon. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

NAZARHAT  GLACIER 

"On  a  mountain  top  where  biting  cold  would  never  let 
grass  grow." 

INDESCRIBABLE  with  pen  and  ink  or 
with  camera  are  the  great  glaciers  of  the 
North  Land.  When  we  first  crossed  the 
divide  which  parted  the  watershed  on  which 
we  had  been  hunting  for  many  days  from  the 
glacier-fed  stream  across  the  range,  we  stood 
looking  away  off  at  Nazarhat — Nazarhat  the 
glacier,  Nazarhat  the  mysterious,  Nazarhat 
the  creator  of  strange  superstitions  and  strange 
terrors  among  the  Indians  of  the  Ashiack 
tribe. 

Our  first  sight  of  this  notable  glacier  gave 
us  the  impression  of  an  enormous  deep  bowl 
made  of  solid  ice  and  running  water.  The 
moraine  that  was  tributary  to  it  was  said  to  be 
seven  miles  long  and  from  two  to  three  miles 
broad.  The  dust  of  ages  had  settled  upon 
this  moraine,  and  vegetation  was  flourishing 
upon    the    scanty    soil,    covering    the    stately 


i82  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

masses  of  shifting  ice.  Grass  was  growing 
on  many  portions  of  the  moraine,  a  few  stunted 
trees  on  others,  and  some  bunches  of  willow 
brush  waved  in  the  wind  on  top  of  the  earthy 
covering  of  the  ice  field. 

It  is  a  wonderful  thought  and  worth  pon- 
dering over  to  know  that  a  swiftly-running 
river  has  its  birthplace  in  the  secret  recesses  of 
this  mysterious  glacier.  A  lonely  sight  it  is, 
no  matter  from  what  angle  you  view  it. 
Nazarhat  is  like  the  other  glaciers  in  this 
country.  It  is  dying,  not  slowly  like  the  ma- 
jority of  glaciers  in  Switzerland,  but  with  a 
seemingly  constantly  accelerating  melting  of 
the  ice  and  with  the  breaking  off  of  large 
sheets  of  the  frozen  liquid.  I  gazed  upon  this 
natural  wonder  until  the  Chief  became  rest- 
less; he  wanted  to  get  to  work;  he  never  had 
much  time  for  sight-seeing.  I  may  as  well  say 
right  here,  as  in  some  other  portion  of  my 
narrative,  that  in  all  of  my  experience  with 
guides  and  other  husky,  virile  men  who  have 
been  with  me  who  were  not  guides,  his  equal 
for  strength,  quickness  of  decision,  and  an  al- 
most raving  desire  for  hard  work,  I  have  never 
seen.  He  was  indeed  a  born  leader.  His 
eight  years'  experience  as  a  member  of  the 
famous     Northwest     Mounted     Police     had 


NAZARHAT  GLACIER  183 

given  him  self-reliance,  and  the  ability  to  do 
big  things  with  comparative  ease  that  other 
men  would  falter  at.  No  need  was  there  ever 
to  spur  him  on  to  work.  I  pity  the  man  who 
might  hire  his  services  and  then  prove  to  be 
lazy  and  indifferent  as  to  whether  he  hunted 
or  not,  and  who  would  decline  to  go  anywhere 
that  would  mean  hard  climbing  or  other 
rugged  work.  The  Chief  might  give  him  a 
lecture  that  he  would  never  forget. 

It  is  a  comfort  to  hunt  with  a  man  who  not 
only  knows  the  ground  but  is  familiar  with 
every  card  and  trick  that  can  be  played  in 
hunting  the  different  species  of  big  game  that 
make  this  country  a  unique  hunting  ground. 

Still  speaking  of  glaciers,  we  must  not  for- 
get mentioning  the  Scolli  Glacier  which  takes 
several  days  to  cross  with  a  pack  outfit. 
Steps  must  be  cut  in  the  ice  to  enable  the 
pack  horses  and  men  to  reach  the  top.  It  is 
six  miles  wide.  Crevasses  are  to  be  found 
almost  everywhere  on  its  surface,  and  there- 
fore extreme  caution  is  necessary  in  crossing 
it.  Season  before  last  three  men  were  pass- 
ing over  it,  when  one  of  them  slipped  and  fell 
a  considerable  distance  into  a  crevasse.  His 
companions  managed  to  get  a  rope  with  a 
noose  on  one  end  down  to  him,  and  he  sue- 


i84  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

ceeded  in  getting  the  noose  around  his  body. 
The  men  above  pulled  and  hauled,  but  the 
man  was  so  securely  lodged  in  among  the  ice 
sheets,  that  he  would  have  been  pulled  in  two 
if  they  had  continued  their  exertions.  They 
lowered  food  to  him,  and  talked  with  him,  as 
he  could  easily  hear  them.  From  below  he 
told  the  men  above  to  write  down  his  last  will 
and  testament,  and  thus  he  advised  them  what 
to  do  for  his  wife  and  children  and  how  cer- 
tain matters  had  to  be  adjusted.  On  the  sec- 
ond day  of  his  imprisonment  his  voice  gradu- 
ally became  weaker  and  the  last  thing  he  said 
was  that  he  was  "about  done  for,"  as  he  knew 
that  he  was  practically  frozen  through.  He 
is  undoubtedly  still  lying  in  his  lonely  ice 
grave,  and  his  body  may  never  be  seen  again, 
as  the  Scolli  Glacier  is  so  far  away  from  civi- 
lization that  but  comparatively  few  people 
cross  it  in  a  year's  time. 

The  Slims  Glacier,  in  whose  icy  depths  the 
Slims  River  and  the  O'Connor  River  both 
have  their  source,  is  also  charged  with  being 
the  cause  of  a  human  tragedy. 

Two  years  ago  a  young  man  on  hunting 
bent  visited  this  weird  region.  He  was  in  pur- 
suit of  wild  goats  and  had  climbed  to  the  roof 
of  the  glacier,  and  from  there  still  higher  to 


NAZARHAT  GLACIER  185 

a  high  mountain  on  the  left.  He  was  rather 
careless  of  where  he  walked.  A  dense  fog 
"as  black  as  Acheron"  enveloped  the  moun- 
tain of  ice,  and  the  man  paid  no  heed  to  the 
warnings  given  him  by  his  guide  to  stay  in 
one  place  while  the  fog  lasted.  He  strolled 
on  leisurely,  and,  all  unconscious  of  impend- 
ing danger,  and  without  any  knowledge  of 
where  he  was  going,  he  stepped  over  the  brink 
of  the  mountain  top  and  at  once  disappeared 
in  the  gloom  of  the  fog.  This  was  in  the  be- 
ginning of  October,  and  his  body  was  not  dis- 
covered until  the  ensuing  July.  Upon  his  per- 
son was  found  a  paid-up  insurance  policy  for 
$20,000  in  favor  of  his  sister.  By  this  means 
his  identity  was  established.  The  natives,  in 
talking  about  this  catastrophe  afterwards,  de- 
plored the  fact  that  his  rifle  when  found  "was 
all  broke  to  pieces."  There  was  but  little  sor- 
row for  the  man,  but  much  for  the  broken 
rifle. 

I  have  already  said  the  Chief  was  impa- 
tient to  go  on,  so  he  led  the  way  down  to  the 
bottom  where  we  saw  many  caribou  trails  and 
in  the  distance  several  caribou,  mostly  cows  or 
spike  horns. 

We  also  came  to  a  small  moose  lake  where 
two  moose  cows  and  a  calf  were  quietly  feed- 


i86  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

ing  on  lily  pads  in  the  water.  Then  we  spied 
a  good-sized  bull  caribou  lying  down  in  some 
long  grass.  We  rode  fast  and  very  near  to 
him.  "Ain't  you  going  to  shoot?"  asked  the 
Chief. 

"No,  he's  not  big  enough,"  I  said,  and  rode 
on  past  him.  He  then  arose  from  his  grassy 
bed  and  bounded  away  out  of  danger. 

Crossing  the  river  bed  and  the  main  stream 
on  the  far  side,  we  went  close  to  the  Nazarhat 
moraine,  climbing  up  from  the  bottom  to  an 
elevation  where  we  might  search  the  whole 
landscape  with  the  glasses. 

Nothing  was  seen  until  late  in  the  afternoon, 
when  as  we  were  turning  around  the  base  of 
a  pinnacle,  we  suddenly  saw  a  very  fine  bull 
accompanied  by  only  one  cow.  He  looked 
around  and  saw  us,  but  before  he  could  make 
a  bolt  out  of  range  of  the  rifle,  I  had  him 
sighted  and  quickly  fired  the  bullet.  It  struck 
him  behind  the  shoulder  and  down  he  went. 
This  one  was  a  fine  specimen  and  very  fat, 
as  the  mating  season  had  then  not  yet  com- 
menced. It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  fatter 
animal  of  any  species  than  he  was.  When  he 
was  skinned  ready  for  the  pack  horse  and  some 
of  the  fat  was  stowed  away  in  the  saddle  bag, 
we  commenced  our  return  journey.     The  way 


NAZARHAT  GLACIER  187 

was  long,  and  before  we  had  climbed  to  the 
top  of  the  divide,  darkness  set  in.  Giving  up 
the  guidance  of  the  party  to  Billie,  he  led  us 
down  in  safety  past  the  soft  places,  where  mus- 
keag  ground  had  to  be  looked  out  for,  and 
avoided,  then  through  a  large  stretch  of  tim- 
ber to  the  river  bank.  This  bank  was  high 
and  precipitous,  but  Billie  led  the  way  to  a 
trail  down  which  we  went  to  the  bottom.  The 
river  was  high  and  swift,  yet  without  the 
slightest  hesitation  Billie  w^aded  into  the 
stream,  and,  exercising  his  usual  caution  and 
good  judgment,  he  worked  his  way  across  to 
the  other  side  and  brought  us  finally  to  the 
camp  at  half-past  eleven  at  night.  Of  course 
all  were  asleep,  but  there  was  a  wood  fire  burn- 
ing and  it  needed  but  a  few  minutes  to  boil  the 
water  to  make  the  mate  and  get  a  quick  sup- 
per; then  off  to  bed. 


CHAPTER  XV 

HOMEWARD  BOUND 
"My  affairs  do  even  drag  me  homeward." 

SEPTEMBER  was  nearly  gone.  We  had 
been  successful  in  bagging  game  of  dif- 
ferent kinds : — moose,  white  sheep,  Osborni 
caribou,  grizzl}^  bears,  Arctic  hares,  various 
species  of  wild  ducks,  grouse,  pintailed  prairie 
chickens,  and  a  few  fat  gophers  by  way  of  a 
change. 

The  time  had  arrived  for  a  shift  to  the 
country  where  the  mountain  goat  was  said  to 
abound.  The  pack  horses  were  loaded  to 
their  limit  with  horns,  antlers,  scalps  and 
hides,  together  with  our  personal  outfits.  The 
pack  train  was  set  in  motion  and  we  were  now 
homeward  bound. 

On  the  return  trip,  for  a  portion  of  the  way 
a  dififerent  route  was  taken  than  that  we  came 
in  by.  Following  a  creek  containing  many 
large  boulders,  which  in  several  places  di- 
verted its  course,  we  found  on  its  rocky  banks 
an  unusual  amount  of  volcanic  ash  deposit. 


HOMEWARD  BOUND  189 

According  to  Dr.  George  M.  Dawson,  the 
geologist:  "This  ash  deposit  appears  to  be 
entirely  due  to  a  single  period  of  eruption. 
It  is  homogeneous  in  character  wherever  seen, 
forming  a  single  layer  not  divided  by  interca- 
lations of  other  material,  and  has  been  spread 
everywhere  in  the  entire  area  characterized  by 
it.  It  is  much  more  recent  in  date  than  the 
white  silt  deposits  which  are  the  last  of  those 
properly  referable  to  the  glacial  series,  having 
been  deposited  after  the  river  valleys  were  ex- 
cavated in  the  glacial  materials,  and  at  a  time 
when  the  rivers  had  cut  down  nearly  quite  to 
their  present  levels — a  fact  rendered  evident 
by  the  circumstance  that  it  overlies  the  depos- 
its of  river  and  valley — gravels  and  sands  in 
all  cases,  except  in  those  low  river  flats  where 
these  deposits  sometimes  cover  it  a  depth  of 
several  feet.  In  most  places  it  is  overlain 
merely  by  the  surface  soil  with  a  depth  of  six 
inches  to  two  feet,  and  in  a  few  instances  it 
was  noted  as  constituting  the  actual  surface 
of  terrace  of  moderate  height,  the  present  for- 
est being  rooted  in  it.  The  ash  appears  to 
have  fallen  tranquilly,  much  in  the  manner  of 
snow  deposited  from  a  calm  atmosphere.  The 
examination  of  scraped  banks  along  the  two 
rivers  (the  Pelly  and  the  Yukon)  showed  it 


I90  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

to  occur  near  the  surface  of  terraces  about  200 
feet  in  height,  as  well  as  on  lower  terraces  and 
river  flats  down  to  within  about  ten  feet  of  the 
actual  river  level  in  August  and  September. 
It  was  also  detected  in  some  places  on  the  slop- 
ing fronts  of  terraces. 

''The  thickness  of  the  layer  was  no  doubt 
originally  pretty  uniform,  and  it  still  retains 
this  uniformity  where  it  rests  upon  wide  flat 
terraces.  Its  average  normal  thickness  for 
the  Pelly,  as  a  whole,  was  estimated  at  about 
five  inches,  but  this  is  somewhat  exceeded 
along  the  part  of  the  river  immediately  above 
the  MacMillan  River.  On  the  Lewis  (the 
Yukon)  below  Rink  Rapid  its  normal  thick- 
ness is  about  a  foot,  but  above  this  point  it  be- 
comes much  less,  and  where  last  seen,  at  Cari- 
bou Crossing,  is  not  over  a  half-inch  thick  and 
only  to  be  recognized  when  carefully  looked 
for." 

Dr.  Dawson  Is  of  the  opinion  that  this  vol- 
canic eruption  probably  came  from  ''Mount 
Wrangell,  as  it  is  the  nearest  known  volcano," 
and  that  the  extent  of  the  eruption  covered  a 
radius  of  possibly  25,000  miles.  As  to  its 
probable  date,  he  says:  "The  rivers  have  not 
certainly  cut  their  beds  perceptibly  deeper 
since  the  deposit  occurred  on  their  flood  flats, 


HOMEWARD  BOUND  191 

so  that  the  period  to  which  it  belongs  cannot 
be  an  exceedingly  remote  one." 

I  have  quoted  thus  literally  from  Dr.  Daw- 
son's reports  because  I  am  of  the  opinion  that 
it  is  perhaps  because  of  this  eruption  of  vol- 
canic ash,  with  its  wide-spread  deposits,  that 
vegetation  is  so  sparse  and  irregular  through- 
out the  territory.  There  is  comparatively  lit- 
tle timber,  and  none  of  the  forests  seen  by  us 
showed  any  extreme  age.  The  willow  brush 
and  alders  are  plentiful  in  many  districts,  and 
Jack  pines  in  others,  with  moderate  growths 
of  spruce  and  balsam  firs  in  a  few  locations. 

When  the  creek  above  described  had  been 
left  behind,  a  day's  journey  took  us  to  the  base 
of  a  mountain  where  we  rested  for  the  night. 
The  next  morning  the  Chief  went  ahead  of  the 
outfit  to  cut  out  dead-falls  on  the  trail  to  the 
crest  of  the  mountain.  There  were  many  of 
these  and  at  best  the  trail  was  awkward  and 
hard,  the  horses  frequently  loosening  or  turn- 
ing their  packs  as  they  forced  their  way 
through  between  the  trees. 

By  noon  we  had  gotten  to  the  top  and 
shortly  afterwards  the  trail  led  down  to  a 
canyon.  After  crossing  the  stream,  an  imme- 
diate sharp  ascent  was  before  us,  which  took 
some  time  and  care  to  surmount.     The  lunch 


192  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

was  eaten,  and  our  journey  over  a  plateau  that 
was  everywhere  soft  and  spongy  was  renewed. 
Nothing  of  note  happened  until  Billie  got  into 
a  nasty  piece  of  muskeag  ground.  He  be- 
haved very  well  this  time,  making  but  three 
spasmodic  jumps  to  extricate  himself,  which 
he  succeeded  in  doing,  and  I  also  did  well  in 
not  getting  thrown. 

That  night  we  pitched  tent  In  a  slight  snow- 
storm. There  was  some  little  wood  around, 
which  enabled  us  to  build  a  fire  and  obtain  a 
hot  supper.  Close  to  us  was  a  small  tent  left 
standing,  and  under  its  canvas  we  counted 
nine  sheep — rams — which  a  native  had  killed 
for  his  winter's  food.  Under  the  game  laws 
of  Yukon  Territory  the  natives  are  allowed  to 
kill  what  meat  they  need  for  food. 

The  distance  covered  on  this  day's  march 
was  but  eleven  miles  at  the  most;  some  of 
the  men  said  it  was  but  nine  and  a  half 
miles. 

On  the  morning  of  the  next  day  the  pack 
train  was  again  started  early.  More  soft, 
spongy  ground  was  encountered  and  for  the 
forenoon's  work  less  than  six  miles  were 
made.  At  lunch  time  a  dry  piece  of  ground 
with  some  good  grass  for  the  horses  was  lo- 
cated.    The   saddles   and   blankets   were   re- 


HOMEWARD  BOUND  193 

moved,  and  the  horses  and  Billie  were 
tethered.  As  was  my  custom  when  lunch  was 
over,  I  rolled  up  in  one  of  Billie's  blankets 
with  the  saddle  for  a  pillow,  and  was  soon 
sound  asleep.  Awaking  at  the  sound  of  a 
peculiarly  strange  and  rasping  voice,  I  saw  a 
smallish  man  whom  I  had  met  and  talked  with 
on  our  way  into  the  hunting  country.  He  was 
a  miner  with  a  seventh  interest  in  a  gold  mine 
near  by.  He  was  accompanied  by  three  big 
husky  dogs  who  walked  around  looking  for 
a  few  stray  morsels  of  food  left  over  from 
our  lunch.  He  was  about  finishing  a  yarn 
that  he  was  telling  to  the  listening  men  when 
he  suddenly  stopped  in  the  middle  of  his 
story. 

"Say,  Tom,"  he  said  to  the  Chief,  "isn't  that 
Billie  the  Wild?" 

"Yes,  it  is;  do  you  know  him?" 

"Do  I  know  him?  You  bet  I  do.  How 
much  will  you  sell  him  for?" 

"I'll  sell  him  for  three  hundred  dollars." 

"Well,  Tom,  if  I  had  the  money  I  would 
certainly  buy  him." 

"Why?  You  don't  want  a  mule — what 
could  you  do  with  him?" 

"I'd  do  nothing  iviih  him,  but  I  would  do 
a  great  many  things  to  him.     I  would  keep 


194  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

him  just  long  enough  to  invent  the  most  cruel 
way  of  killing  him,  and  then  make  way  with 
him.     Do  you  know  what  he  did  to  me?" 

''No." 

"Well,  I'll  tell  you. — It  was  in  the  winter 
time,  five  years  ago,  with  some  two  foot  of 
snow  on  the  ground,  and  I  was  walking  into 
White  Horse  when  I  met  a  doctor  coming  to- 
wards me  who  had  hired  a  sleigh  with  Billie 
to  pull  it,  and  as  he  was  near  his  destination 
he  asked  me  if  I  would  drive  the  mule  back 
to  the  livery  stable  in  White  Horse.  Of 
course  I  would,  for  that  was  sure  a  cinch, 
wasn't  it?  Here  was  a  free  ride  of  fifteen 
miles,  from  where  I  was  to  the  stable.  The 
doctor  got  out,  and  I  got  in.  Billie  turned 
the  cutter  around  himself  when  I  told  him 
to,  and  off  we  went.  Say,  Tom,  but  he's  a 
good  goer!  He  just  made  the  snow  fly  in 
clouds  as  we  sped  along.  We  had  gone  over 
seven  miles  when  all  at  once  a  buck  Indian 
poked  his  head  out  through  some  willow 
brush.  Billie  not  only  scented  him  but  saw 
him.  Now  all  that  I  know  after  that  can  be 
told  in  a  minute.  Billie  gave  a  spring,  and 
broke  one  of  the  traces;  he  kicked  up  his  heels 
and  smashed  the  front  of  the  cutter,  and  the 
next  I  knew  I  was  sailing  through  the  air; 


HOMEWARD  BOUND  195 

then  all  was  dark.  When  I  came  to,  my  head 
was  cut  and  bleeding — just  sec  the  mark  on 
it  now — and  Billie  and  the  rig  was  gone.  I 
had  been  thrown  head  first  against  a  tree. 
The  Indian  had  disappeared  too.  I  bathed 
my  head  with  snow  and  stopped  the  bleeding, 
then  I  trudged  along  to  White  Horse.  On 
the  road  I  found  pieces  of  the  cutter  and  of 
the  harness,  and  when  I  got  to  the  stable  Bil- 
lie was  there  eating  as  calmly  as  if  nothing 
had  happened,  and  all  he  had  brought  back 
with  him  was  his  collar.  Do  you  wonder 
now  why  I  would  kill  him?" 

We  resumed  our  journey  some  little  time 
afterwards  and  I  overtook  the  irate  miner 
with  his  husky  dogs.  He  was  carrying  a 
small  pack,  and,  as  he  had  come  a  consider- 
able distance  when  I  caught  up  with  him,  I 
asked  if  he  was  tired.  He  acknowledged  that 
he  was. 

I  then  invited  him  to  mount  Billie,  saying 
I  would  walk.  The  man  was  impressed  by 
my  kindly  offer,  but  he  said  that  it  was  so 
long  since  he  had  been  on  horseback  that  it 
would  make  him  sore  to  ride.  He  was  told 
that  Billie  was  a  very  easy-going  mule,  so 
much  so  that  his  gait  would  remind  him  of 
a  rocking  chair. 


196  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

"No,"  said  he,  "he  rocked  me  once  and  he'll 
never  get  a  chance  to  rock  me  again." 

He  eased  himself  by  using  some  strong 
"sulphurous"  words  about  the  mule,  and  then 
quietly  dropped  behind  in  the  procession. 

That  evening  we  reached  the  foot  of  the 
lake  over  which  we  had  such  a  dangerous  pas- 
sage when  we  were  coming  in.  The  wind  the 
next  morning  was  blowing  a  gale  down  the 
lake.  There  was  no  boat  to  meet  us,  as  we 
had  expected.  Much  time  was  lost  in  start- 
ing a  man  on  horseback,  to  go  to  the  other 
end  of  the  lake  to  bring  the  boat  down  with 
him,  and  still  more  time  in  starting  a  second 
man  off  with  a  bunch  of  pack  horses  also  to 
go  around  the  lake  so  as  to  be  waiting  for  us 
when  we  finally  arrived  at  the  head. 

In  the  meantime  a  rusty  old  shot-gun  and 
some  cartridges  were  found  in  the  cabin,  and 
I  spent  several  days  in  bringing  down  a  wel- 
come supply  of  wild  ducks,  grouse,  and 
prairie  chickens.  The  wild  geese  had  now 
commenced  to  fly  southward,  and  many  large 
flocks  passed  over  us  during  our  enforced 
stay.  The  pintailed  ducks  and  butterballs 
were  also  headed  in  the  same  direction. 

At  the  end  of  a  three  days'  wait  the  man 
who  had  gone  to  the  head  of  the  lake  for  the 


u 


HOMEWARD  BOUND  197 

power  boat  returned  with  a  small  sail  boat. 
Some  one  had  tampered  with  the  machinery 
of  the  power  boat  and  it  would  not  go;  so  he 
had  to  hire  a  man  who  had  a  sail  boat  and 
bring  him  along.  The  wind  was  still  high, 
and  we  could  not  risk  the  small  boat  with  such 
a  big  load  as  we  had,  therefore  another  day 
was  lost.  The  following  day  the  wind  had 
calmed  down  enough  to  permit  us  to  "line" 
the  boat  down  along  the  shore.  In  other 
words,  one  man  stayed  in  the  boat  to  steer 
her,  while  three  men  with  a  long  rope  on  their 
backs  walked  along  the  edge  of  the  lake  and 
thus  towed  her.  This  method  was  continued 
all  the  afternoon  and  a  portion  of  the  next 
day.  The  wind  having  now  gone  down,  we 
were  able  to  row  the  boat  the  balance  of  the 
distance.  We  landed  about  dark  on  the  bank 
of  a  glacial  river,  whose  great  volume  of  ice- 
cold  water  emptying  directly  into  the  lake  is 
solely  responsible  for  that  important  body  of 
water. 

It  is  best  to  reserve  the  description  of  this 
glacial  river  for  another  chapter,  as  it  fully 
deserves  a  big  chapter  all  to  itself. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  SLIMS  GLACIER 
"That  pure  congealed  white,  high  Taurus'  snow." 

OUR  tents  were  pitched  near  the  shore  of 
the  glacial  river.  The  ground  here- 
abouts is  soft  and  mushy.  At  the  bottom  of 
this  river,  as  I  have  previously  mentioned, 
quicksand  is  frequently  found,  and  much  care 
is  needed  in  wading  horses  into  or  across  it. 

A  miner,  who  has  a  large  and  most  com- 
fortable cabin,  lives  here.  He  invited  my 
companion  and  me  to  sleep  in  his  cabin.  As 
we  were  now  so  used  to  tent  life  we  would 
have  perhaps  preferred  the  tent  to  the  cabin, 
but  his  invitation  was  so  earnest  and  kindly 
that  we  accepted  it.  This  man  was  a  giant 
in  size  and  in  strength.  His  cabin  was  clean 
and  very  orderly.  The  sides  of  the  cabin 
were  graced  with  twelve  large  pen*  and  ink 
pictures  showing  Gibson's  best  work.  He 
had  a  roomy  stove  set  close  to  the  floor  to  heat 
the  cabin,  a  cook  stove  at  one  end,  a  couple 
of  beds  set  end  to  end,  some  dishes,  books,  a 


THE  SLIMS  GLACIER  199 

victrola,  and  a  nice  rug  to  cover  the  center  of 
the  floor. 

One  of  our  "wranglers"  had  to  get  up  very 
early  in  the  morning  to  hunt  up  some  stray 
horses.  Although  there  were  seven  of  us,  not 
one  had  a  watch  that  was  in  condition  to  give 
■us  the  time  of  day;  so  our  host  volunteered  to 
wake  him  at  two  o'clock.  The  registering 
thermometer  showed  that  it  was  21  degrees 
above  zero  that  night,  and  promptly  to  the 
minute  the  man  got  out  of  bed  and  coolly 
walked  out  in  his  bare  feet  and  bare  legs,  and 
without  a  night  shirt  on,  to  the  tent  of  the 
wrangler  and  wakened  him.  The  distance  he 
had  to  walk  was  equal  to  a  city  square.  Al- 
though there  was  some  little  snow  on  the 
ground,  he  came  back  without  saying  a 
word  and  got  into  bed  as  if  he  had  done  noth- 
ing but  what  was  a  nightly  occurrence  with 
him,  and  he  soon  fell  asleep  and  all  was  well. 

This  man  had  four  heavy,  husky  dogs,  and 
these  he  fed  with  white  fish  which  he  caught 
with  a  net  in  the  lake  near  by.  When  the 
weather  became  cold  enough  to  freeze  the  lake 
over,  he  would  catch  a  couple  of  tons  or  more 
of  these  splendid  fish  and  they  would  make 
food  for  man  and  beast  during  the  winter. 
The  huskies  were  used  in  carrying  him  on  his 


200  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

sled  to  his  mining  camp  and  back.  When  he 
wanted  to  visit  White  Horse,  if  the  snow  was 
good,  they  would  average  six  miles  an  hour 
and  thus  get  him  there  in  a  couple  of  days, 
making  the  round  journey  in  from  four  to  five 
days. 

The  morning  after  our  arrival  we  were  still 
minus  three  horses,  and  some  time  was  lost 
in  finding  the  bunch  they  were  in,  for  there 
were  many  horses  there  feeding  on  the  grass 
which  was  abundant  and  rich.  It  also  took 
considerable  time  to  ''cut  out"  the  three  from 
the  bunch.  Having  secured  the  stray  horses, 
we  followed  the  course  of  the  glacial  river  un- 
til we  came  to  the  deserted  mining  village 
spoken  of  in  a  previous  chapter.  Here  were 
plenty  of  well-built  and  roomy  cabins,  a  road 
house,  a  large  livery  stable,  a  store  house,  and 
a  bake  house.  The  doors  to  the  buildings 
were  all  open.  Any  one  might  take  posses- 
sion of  one  or  all  of  them  as  he  pleased,  but, 
alas!  there  was  nothing  to  warrant  any  one 
in  occupying  them. 

The  going  was  nasty,  and  the  horses  had  to 
pick  their  way  carefully  to  keep  clear  of  mus- 
keag  ground.  At  noon  we  stopped  for  lunch 
on  a  piece  of  ground  that  was  fairly  firm.  A 
fire  made  with  willow  brush  soon  boiled  wa- 


THE  SLIMS  GLACIER         201 

ter  enough  to  make  our  mate.  While  eating 
our  repast,  the  Chief  saw  right  back  of  us  on 
a  very  steep  and  high  mountain  a  large  moun- 
tain goat.  He  and  the  writer  lost  no  time  in 
undertaking  the  stalk  to  get  within  range  of 
the  goat.  The  route  led  for  a  distance  through 
a  piece  of  timber  land,  which  was  well  choked 
up  with  a  bountiful  mass  of  dust  to  a  depth 
of  a  foot.  This  had  been  blown  through  the 
immense  gap  formed  by  the  dying  glacier, 
whose  melting  ice  is  the  fountain  head  of  the 
river  we  were  following.  A  quarter  of  a 
mile  of  this  sort  of  going  brought  us  out  of 
the  timber  and  to  the  base  of  the  mountain. 
Here  the  goat  could  not  be  seen  for  obstruc- 
tions in  the  way.  The  Chief  said  that  he 
would  be  watching  the  horses,  and  his  attention 
would  be  centered  on  them,  so  we  need  not 
worry  about  him.  We  commenced  the  climb, 
and,  when  in  sight  of  the  prey  a  fire  was  built 
to  focus  his  attention  upon  the  smoke  and  lire 
until  I  got  near  enough  to  shoot. 

The  climb  then  continued.  It  was  with- 
out doubt  the  hardest  piece  of  climbing  of  the 
whole  trip.  A  most  remarkable  thing  about 
it  was  that  the  goat  was  directly  under  the  sun 
and  without  the  glasses  we  could  not  make 
him  out.     The  route  we  took  was  the  only  one 


202  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

by  which  an  ascent  could  be  made,  but 
we  went  as  far  as  it  was  possible  for  human 
beings  to  go.  Before  us  was  a  yawning  chasm 
and  back  of  that  a  sheer  wall,  and  on  the  peak 
of  that  was  his  eminence,  the  goat.  A  pecu- 
liar sharp  ridge  ran  across  the  edge  of  the 
chasm,  and  on  this  we  stopped  until  we  could 
breathe  freely.  The  ridge  was  made  up  of 
small  stones  and  loose  soil.  It  would  not  bear 
our  weight  without  straddling  it,  and  as  the 
goat  was  directly  above  me,  and  still  in  the 
sun,  I  could  not  see  him  at  all  without  the 
glasses.  Lying  partly  on  my  left  side  with 
one  leg  hanging  over  the  ridge,  I  located  him 
as  well  as  I  could  with  the  glasses  and  pre- 
pared to  shoot.  It  was  guess  work  at  the  best, 
and  when  the  shot  was  fired  the  bullet  went 
at  least  a  foot  to  the  right  of  him,  and  in  a 
second,  as  it  seemed  to  us,  he  disappeared  over 
the  crest. 

Nothing  was  to  be  done  now  but  to  get 
down  to  the  bottom  again,  which  we  did  with 
all  the  celerity  at  our  command.  While  we 
had  been  up  the  mountain,  our  pack  train  had 
passed  by  the  place  where  Charley  and  Billie 
were  tethered,  and  as  the  ground  was  so  very 
treacherous  the  Chief  was  anxious  to  catch  up 
to  them.     We  mounted,  and  away  we  went  on 


THE  SLIMS  GLACIER         203 

a  gallop  wherever  the  ground  was  hard 
enough  to  permit  us  to  travel  so  fast.  In  an 
hour  we  came  up  with  the  pack.  The  men 
had  not  been  able  to  find  a  path  by  which 
the  horses  could  safely  travel  with  their  loads. 
The  Chief  took  command,  and  walking  his 
horse  along  the  very  edge  of  the  river's  bank 
he  was  enabled  to  clear  the  very  soft  places. 
The  other  horses  seeing  Charley  leading,  fol- 
lowed in  his  tracks,  and  all  went  well  until 
a  place  was  reached  where  it  was  impossible 
to  go  any  farther.  Then  we  were  led  up  into 
the  mountain,  through  the  bed  of  a  small 
creek  well  filled  with  immense  boulders.  The 
horses  were  taken  carefully  up  this  creek. 
At  the  top  of  it,  we  turned  to  the  left,  and 
followed  a  trail  that  ran  through  a  thick 
grove  of  willow  brush. 

It  was  now  dark,  and  we  had  our  hands 
full  in  keeping  the  willows  from  swiping  us 
off  our  horses.  In  time  the  trail  led  down  the 
mountain  again,  and  we  came  to  a  good  camp- 
ing place.  The  packs  were  removed  from  the 
animals,  they  were  hobbled  and  let  loose,  and 
then  it  was  discovered  that  one  of  the  horses 
with  a  pack  on  his  back  was  missing. 

Two  men  went  up  the  mountain  with  a  lan- 
tern, and  later  came  back  saying  the  horse 


204  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

could  not  be  found.  Then  the  Chief  and  an- 
other man  went  up.  At  about  eleven  o'clock 
that  night  they  found  the  horse  on  the  trail, 
with  his  pack  caught  between  two  trees  so  that 
he  could  go  neither  forward  nor  backward. 
Some  projecting  limbs  had  to  be  cut  ofif  before 
he  could  be  released.  He  was  soon  led  down 
to  the  tent,  freed  of  his  burden,  and  sent  out 
to  feed. 

The  following  morning,  being  now  in  the 
so-called  goat  country,  we  were  eager  for  the 
expected  excitement  of  seeing  and  stalking 
them.  A  long  and  careful  search  at  a  high 
elevation  failed  to  reveal  a  single  goat,  and 
that  day  was  therefore  a  blank. 

We  were  now  completely  out  of  meat  and  it 
was  necessary  for  us  to  procure  meat  of  some 
kind.  A  little  before  noon  the  Chief  discov- 
ered five  young  sheep  (rams)  feeding  low 
down  on  the  side  of  a  mountain.  The  wind 
was  not  very  good,  but  by  following  up  the 
near  side  of  a  deep  canyon,  it  might  be  pos- 
sible to  get  within  range  of  them.  This  can- 
yon was  well  filled  with  large  granite  boul- 
ders, backed  up  by  sharp-edged  stones. 
Many  stones  were  even  then  sliding  down  the 
mountain  sides,  so  whatever  noise  we  made  in 
climbing  over  the  boulders  was  more  than  ofJ- 


K 


THE  SLIMS  GLACIER         205 

set  by  the  noise  of  the  occasional  dropping 
stones.  We  had  over  a  mile  and  a  half  to 
work  our  way  up  the  canyon  before  getting 
within  range,  and  for  most  of  the  time  the 
sheep  by  reason  of  their  location  were  invisi- 
ble to  us.  When  at  last  we  neared  them  we 
came  to  a  place  where  a  long  and  deep  land- 
slide had  plunged  down  into  the  canyon. 
This  we  crawled  over  and  climbed  around, 
and  at  its  far  end  we  were  near  enough  to 
shoot.  As  it  was  meat  we  wanted,  and  that 
badly,  the  Chief  used  his  30-40  Winchester 
rifle,  and  the  two  of  us  started  shooting.  With 
the  first  two  bullets  two  of  the  rams  fell,  the 
others  running  up  the  side  of  the  mountain 
as  fast  as  if  they  were  traveling  on  level 
ground.  They  dodged  backwards  and  for- 
wards, now  behind  a  rock  and  again  above  it, 
until  another  one  fell.  The  ram  that  was  run- 
ning the  fastest  seemed  to  bear  a  charmed  life 
for  a  while,  but  a  bullet  from  my  Mannlichcr 
dropped  him,  and  he  rolled  over,  and  down 
the  side  of  the  mountain.  We  had  gotten 
four  out  of  the  five,  and  we  were  well  satis- 
fied, as  we  now  had  enough  meat  to  last  us 
until  we  arrived  at  White  Horse.  We 
dressed  the  sheep,  had  our  lunch,  and  went 
back  for  the  horses.     Strapping  the  sheep  on 


2o6  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

their  backs,  we  returned  to  camp,  which  we 
reached  at  dark. 

It  is  now  in  order  to  say  something  about 
the  glacier  that  we  were  so  close  to,  and  in 
which  two  rivers  had  their  source,  the  waters 
of  one  reaching  the  ocean  via  the  Yukon  River 
and  Behring  Sea,  and  the  other  by  way  of  the 
interior  waterway  in  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

This  glacier  is  really  an  extension  of  Mount 
St.  Elias,  although  that  famous  mountain  is 
eighty  miles  away.  Formerly  the  glacier  was 
higher  than  the  mountains  surrounding  it. 
Now  it  has  shrunken  so  much  by  the  melting 
of  the  ice  that  it  makes  a  deep  and  broad  gap, 
through  which  the  warm  south  winds  rush 
with  immense  force,  carrying  clouds  of  dust, 
which  finally  settles  in  the  water  of  the  river 
and  sinks  to  the  bottom,  forming  quicksands 
or  bars.  Some  of  it  is  carried  by  the  wind  up 
the  mountain  sides  among  the  timber,  and 
along  the  banks  of  the  stream.  The  pressure 
of  the  glacial  water  is  so  great  that  it  is  forced 
up  from  the  bottom  of  the  glacier  like  a  sy- 
phon. The  current  of  water  divides  in  two, 
and  as  before  stated  two  rivers  are  thus 
created. 

Dr.  Dawson  states  that  the  ice  flow,  during 
the  period  of  the  great  Cordillevan  Glacier 


THE  SLIMS  GLACIER         207 

or  confluent  glacier  mass  of  the  west  coast,  was 
included  between  the  fifty-fifth  and  the  fifty- 
ninth  parallels  of  latitude,  and  that  its  well- 
defined  movement  was  from  the  south  to  the 
north.  Therefore  at  one  time  all  of  this  wide 
stretch  of  country  was  covered  with  a  moving 
mass  of  ice,  crushing  and  breaking  down 
everything  within  its  path.  "While  the 
greater  part  of  the  area  traversed  is  more  or 
less  completely  mantled  with  glacial  deposits, 
it  will  be  observed  that  true  boulder-clay  was 
found  in  certain  parts  only  of  the  southern 
and  more  mountainous  portion  of  the  region, 
while  it  spreads  over  almost  the  entire  length 
of  the  upper  Pelly  and  Lewis  (Yukon)  val- 
leys, though  not  found  exposed  quite  to  their 
confluence." 

Dr.  Dawson  attributes  the  presence  of  both 
the  fine  and  the  coarse  gold  which  is  found  in 
the  Yukon  basin  entirely  to  the  grinding  ef- 
fects of  this  wide-spread  glacial  action. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  WONDERS  OF  A  NEW  LAND 

I  HAVE  been  quoting  freely  from  Dr. 
George  M.  Dawson,  one  of  the  greatest  of 
Canadian  scientists.  He  has  carefully  studied 
the  rocks,  mountains,  glaciers,  plateaus,  vol- 
canic deposits,  fossils,  and  old  lava — flows  that 
occur  in  this  comparatively  new  land  passing 
under  the  name  of  the  Yukon  Territory. 

Let  me  now  quote  from  Rex  Beach,  the 
novelist,  who  has  spent  eleven  years  in  this 
section  of  the  country  and  has  had  a  wide 
experience  there. 

"In  one  way  the  southern  coast  of  Alaska 
may  be  said  to  be  perhaps  a  million  of  years 
younger  than  any  other  land  on  this  conti- 
nent, for  it  is  still  in  the  glacial  period.  The 
vast  alluvial  plains  and  valleys  of  the  inte- 
rior are  rimmed  in  to  the  southward,  and  shut 
off  from  the  Pacific,  by  a  well-nigh  impassa- 
ble mountain  barrier,  the  top  of  which  is 
capped  with  perpetual  snow.  Its  gorges  for 
the  most  part  run  rivers  of  ice  instead  of  wa- 


WONDERS  OF  A  NEW  LAND    209 

ter.  Europe  has  nothing  like  these  glaciers, 
which  overflow  the  Alaskian  valleys,  and  sub- 
merge the  hills,  for  many  of  them  contain 
more  ice  than  the  whole  of  Switzerland. 

*'This  range  is  the  Andes  of  the  North,  and 
it  curves  westward  in  a  magnificent  sweep, 
hugging  the  shore  for  a  thousand  leagues. 
Against  It  the  sea  beats  stormily;  its  frozen 
crest  is  played  upon  by  constant  rains  and  fogs 
and  blizzards.  But  beyond  lies  a  land  of  sun- 
shine, of  long,  dry,  golden  summer  days." 

Here  we  have  a  description  that  to  my  mind 
cannot  be  excelled. 

On  the  Coast  Range  we  have  rain  and  rain 
for  weeks,  with  snow,  ice,  and  a  host  of  other 
discomforts.  And  then  sixty  to  eighty  miles 
back  of  the  great  Coast  Range  we  find  just 
what  this  noted  writer  has  characterized  this 
inland  country  to  be — "a  land  of  sunshine,  of 
long,  dry,  golden  summer  days." 

It  is  in  reality  a  semi-arid  country.  The 
atmosphere  is  so  dry  that  you  may  cache  meat 
out  in  the  open  in  the  early  fall,  and  it  will 
be  good  to  eat  all  through  the  winter;  but 
of  course  it  will  at  that  time  be  frozen. 

Hang  your  wet  clothes  outside  at  night. 
In  the  morning  they  are  dry.  Dust,  heaps  of 
it,  we  found  along  the  beds  of  certain  rivers, 


2IO  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

where  it  had  been  blown  by  furious  winds, 
sweeping  over  the  glacier.  More  than  eighty 
miles  away  from  this  glacier  the  whirling, 
moving,  flying  masses  of  dust  darkened  the 
sun  and  made  travel  tedious  and  irksome,  be- 
sides filling  our  nostrils,  our  hair,  our  clothes, 
and  even  our  foot-gear  with  it. 

This  condition  prevails  only  when  the  wind 
is  due  south.  In  the  future,  when  this  par- 
ticular glacier  has  become  entirely  extinct, 
the  conditions  will  be  very  much  worse,  as 
the  gap  will  be  just  so  much  wider  and  deeper, 
thus  allowing  so  much  more  air  to  pass^ 
through  the  gigantic  funnel. 

What  a  stunning  change  has  come  over  this 
region  "since  the  glacial-ice  buried  the  entire 
great  valley  which  separates  Vancouver 
Island  from  the  mainland,  and  discharged 
seaward  round  both  ends  of  the  island." 

Our  route  was  now  to  follow  the  river  that 
by  devious  ways  works  its  course  to  the  Pacific 
through  the  Coast  Range  of  mountains  in 
Alaska. 

The  scenery  along  this  glacial  river  was 
such  as  to  be  really  indescribable.  The  cliffs 
towering  above  the  river,  or  above  some 
rounded  lake  through  which  the  stream  runs, 
were  wonderful   in   their  irregularity.     One 


WONDERS  OF  A  NEW  LAND     211 

of  these  small  lakes  was  weirdly  beautiful.  A 
large  mass  of  clear  and  transparent  ice  had 
fallen  into  it  from  the  glacier.  It  was 
grounded  on  the  bottom  below,  with  its  top 
twenty  or  more  feet  above  the  surface.  For 
several  miles  the  bank  of  the  river  opposite 
us  made  a  sheer  descent — from  the  ice  caps 
above  direct  to  the  water.  But  no  one  can 
imagine  the  varied  forms,  colors,  and  shades 
that  succeeded  one  another  along  this  change- 
able wall  of  granite,  sandstone,  and  shale, 
with  here  and  there  beds  of  lignite. 

In  one  place  what  appeared  to  be  basaltic 
columns,  looking  like  the  front  of  a  cathedral 
tower,  astonished  us.  This  was  immediately 
followed  by  a  reproduction  upon  a  large  scale 
of  a  mystic  House  of  Parliament.  Then 
Turkish  Mosques,  Kiosks  and  Minarets  came 
into  view.  Look  where  we  would,  the  chang- 
ing sunlight  upon  the  mass  of  variegated  rocks 
kept  transforming  the  scene  into  a  kaleido- 
scopic view,  brilliant  in  color  and  of  marvel- 
ous beauty  of  form.  I  cannot  find  words  to 
describe  the  feeling  of  awe  and  wonder  that 
followed  each  new  scene  of  splendor.  It  is 
indeed  a  fairyland  upon  a  gigantic  scale, 
known  unfortunately  to  but  a  handful  of  peo- 
ple— maybe  less  than  a  hundred.     As  far  as 


212  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

we  know,  no  artist  has  seen  or  sketched  it;  no 
photographer  with  proper  equipment  has  ever 
snapped  it.  Its  glories  must  lie  hidden  and 
unknown  until  some  wandering  Oliver  Gold- 
smith or  some  future  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 
shall  find  this  treasure  trove,  and  describe  it 
in  book  form  or  picture  it  on  canvas. 

Finally  the  river  broadened  out  to  a  mile 
in  width,  and  the  trail  led  to  the  other  side. 
Willow  brush  became  plentiful.  Some  dis- 
tance farther  on  the  trail  led  through  a  small 
forest  of  Jack  pines.  Here  were  seen  many 
bear  trails,  fresh  diggings,  and  evidences  that 
one  or  more  grizzlies  had  been  there  that  very 
forenoon.  The  wind  being  with  us  would  ac- 
count for  their  disappearance. 

Our  two  guides  had  been  for  many  days 
discussing  the  good  points  of  their  horses, 
Charley  and  Mac.  The  discussions  were 
principally  about  their  speed.  Incidentally 
I  learned  that  on  this  route  was  a  place  where 
the  river  bed  for  four  miles  was  level  enough 
to  serve  as  a  place  for  racing  horses,  that  the 
bottom  was  fairly  clear  of  gopher  holes 
(which  are  an  ever-present  danger  in  any 
horse  racing  in  this  section  of  country),  and 
that  this  would  be  the  place  to  settle  all  dis- 
putes about  the  speed  of  the  two  animals. 


WONDERS  OF  A  NEW  LAND     213 

We  were  now  jogging  along  at  an  easy  gait, 
when  both  guides  put  the  spurs  to  their  horses, 
and  not  even  saying,  "Good-bye,  we'll  see  you 
later,"  away  they  went. 

Billie  threw  back  his  ears,  and  without  any 
waiting  or  hesitation  he  started  after  them. 
Very  quickly  he  settled  down  to  a  steady  but 
swift  gait.  He  did  not  seem  to  exert  himself, 
nor  did  he  become  excited.  Gradually  he 
increased  his  speed,  until  I  stood  up  in  the 
stirrups  and  held  him  with  a  strong  grip  with 
my  left  hand.  With  the  right  hand  I  occa- 
sionally gave  him  a  crack  with  a  piece  of  wil- 
low brush  used  in  place  of  a  whip.  We  had 
thus  gone  perhaps  a  half  mile,  when  Billie 
came  up  with  the  runners.  Both  horses  were 
showing  nervousness  and  both  were  sweating. 
The  appearance  of  the  mule  alongside  spurred 
them  to  greater  exertions  than  ever,  and  a  new 
spurt  was  indulged  in  with  Mac  in  the  lead, 
Charley  next,  and  Billie  sailing  along  in  the 
rear.  It  struck  me  there  and  then  that  Bil- 
lie was  simply  playing  with  them, — that  he 
knew  he  could  outrun  them  whenever  he 
wanted  to;  but  that  if  he  beat  them  too  easily, 
the  race  w^ould  be  over  and  all  of  the  enjoy- 
ment with  it.  Indeed,  he  seemed  to  enjoy  it 
better  than  either  of  the  two  men,  who  were 


214  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

now  plying  their  willow  whips  and  shouting 
to  their  horses  with  all  their  might. 

Once  more  the  mule,  now  still  cool  and  col- 
lected, drew  up  along  side  of  Charley,  who 
was  in  a  lather  of  sweat,  and  panting  very 
hard.  He,  being  nearer  to  me,  was  the  only 
one  I  could  take  note  of,  although  no  doubt 
Mac  was  in  equally  as  bad  a  condition.  For 
a  second  time  the  two  horses  spurted,  and  once 
more  we  went  to  the  rear,  Billie  cantering  eas- 
ily along  with  his  glossy  skin  free  from  any 
sign  of  perspiration.  The  race  having  now 
covered  over  two  miles,  the  horses  were  show- 
ing distress.  Watching  them  carefully  with 
those  searching  eyes  of  his,  Billie  evidently 
made  up  his  mind  that  the  time  was  ripe  to 
show  them  how  quickly  he  could  put  them 
"out  of  the  running."  I  had  no  need  to  en- 
courage or  shout  at  him ;  he  let  himself  out — 
it  was  just  that  and  nothing  more.  With  a 
stately  and  dignified  pace  he  drew  up  to  them, 
and  easily  passing  them  he  sped  on  ahead,  as 
if  to  show  them  what  a  simple  thing  it  was  for 
him  to  run  them  to  a  standstill.  I  was  guid- 
ing and  holding  him  with  my  left  hand  only, 
and  we  were  at  any  rate  ten  yards  ahead  of  the 
horses  when  Billie  stumbled.  His  left  front 
foot  had  gone  down  into  a  gopher  hole.     For- 


WONDERS  OF  A  NEW  LAND     215 

tunately  for  him  and  for  me  too,  I  had  a  firm 
hold  of  the  bridle  and  I  thus  kept  him  from 
going  down  on  all  fours  and  myself  from  go- 
ing over  his  head. 

This  accident  put  a  finish  to  the  race.  Bil- 
lie  showed  no  bad  effects  from  it,  but  for  my- 
self I  found  something  was  wrong  with  my 
left  side,  which  gave  me  considerable  pain, 
and  it  kept  getting  more  painful  with  each 
recurring  day.  It  was  finally  discovered  that 
the  large  muscle  controlling  the  three  lower 
ribs  on  my  left  side  had  been  badly  wrenched, 
and  I  was  advised  to  let  it  alone,  and  time 
would  bring  about  relief.  This  I  did,  but 
two  months  elapsed  before  the  pain  and  sore- 
ness finally  disappeared. 

I  did  not,  and  do  not  now,  begrudge  hav- 
ing had  this  accident,  although  it  might  have 
been  very  much  worse.  This,  however,  I 
may  say:  I  wouldn't  have  missed  this  long  and 
unique  race  of  a  "wild"  mule  against  two  good 
horses,  even  had  I  known  beforehand  that  the 
accident  would  happen. 

A  good  camping  place  with  lots  of  grass  for 
the  horses  and  plenty  of  wood  for  the  fire  was 
found  early  in  the  afternoon.  The  Chief  now 
led  the  way  across  the  river  bottom  to  a  moun- 
tain on  the  right-hand  side,  back  of  which 


2i6  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

a  roaring  body  of  water  was  forcing  its  way 
through  a  canyon  to  the  river  itself.  We  had 
to  pass  through  a  wide  clump  of  willow  brush. 
With  our  eyes  fastened  on  the  mountains 
ahead  of  us,  it  was  little  wonder  that,  when  a 
magnificent  black  fox  jumped  up  and  loped 
away  in  front  of  us  into  another  bunch  of  wil- 
lows, the  Chief  saw  him  not  at  all.  While  I 
did  see  him,  and  that  very  plainly,  I  was  not 
quick  enough  with  the  rifle  to  get  a  shot,  al- 
though I  had  already  set  the  trigger  and  had 
put  the  rifle  to  shoulder  before  he  disappeared. 

The  Chief  asked  what  I  had  aimed  at,  and 
when  told  of  the  fox,  he  seemed  to  give  it  little 
credence.  But  suddenly  the  fox  appeared 
again.  For  a  second  he  was  once  more  in 
sight,  and  both  rifles  were  brought  to  shoul- 
der. Yet  again  he  was  too  quick  for  us,  al- 
though we  had  a  splendid  view  of  him.  His 
skin  was  jet  black,  and  as  glossy  as  satin.  The 
Chief  was  much  disturbed  because  the  fox  had 
gotten  away,  as  he  said  his  pelt  would  easily 
bring  sixteen  hundred  dollars. 

Previous  to  this  I  had  personally  seen  three 
silver  foxes,  two  young  fellows  and  one  full 
grown,  which  the  Chief  said  if  trapped  in  the 
late  fall  would  average  eight  hundred  dollars 
apiece.    That  black  fox  will  have  many  traps 


WONDERS  OF  A  NEW  LAND     217 

set  for  him  in  the  coming  winter  that  he  will 
need  to  keep  a  wary  eye  upon.  In  order  to  be 
out  of  their  dangerous  clutches  he  will  have 
to  use  his  wonderful  scent  as  well  as  his  keen 
eyesight.  The  Chief  noted  his  route  of  travel, 
and  he  will  surely  have  a  line  of  traps  strung 
along  his  pathway.  To  catch  such  a  fine  spec- 
imen of  the  Yukon  black  fox  is  like  finding  a 
gold  mine,  with  all  the  rich  gold  in  sight. 

What  an  influence  the  vagaries  of  fashion 
have  upon  the  animal  world!  One  year  mink 
is  in  demand  and  the  prices  soar,  and  the  mink 
is  then  searched  for  and  trapped  all  through 
British  Columbia  and  the  Yukon,  Siberia  and 
Alaska.  The  next  year  marten  comes  into 
vogue  with  a  similar  result.  Then  the  lynx, 
the  seal,  the  ermine,  the  wolverine,  the  beaver, 
the  homely  skunk,  and  even  the  muskrat  each 
in  his  turn  is  in  demand.  Now  it  is  the  black 
fox,  the  silver  fox,  the  blue  fox,  the  red  fox, 
and  the  grey  fox.  Anything  as  long  as  it  is 
a  fox,  is  wanted. 

A  few  years  back  muskrats  were  worth  only 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  cents  a  skin.  They  then 
came  into  fashion,  and  the  price  went  up.  In 
the  city  of  London,  Ontario,  I  heard  of  a  man 
who  had  bought  five  thousand  of  these  rather 
common  little  hides  and  had  paid  $1.05  a  skin 


2i8  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

for  them.  Alas  for  the  purchaser;  the  fash- 
ions changed,  the  prices  dropped,  and  good- 
ness knows  what  he  had  to  sell  them  for.  Per- 
haps the  price  was  once  more  but  fifteen  cents 
each. 

The  fur  trade  is  always  subject  to  violent 
fluctuations  in  price,  governed  by  the  sales 
from  continent  to  continent.  As  fashion  al- 
ways fixes  upon  one  fur  to  the  exclusion  of 
others,  upon  that  caprice  alone  does  the  life 
or  death  of  millions  of  fur-bearing  animals 
depend. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

AN   INDIAN  VILLAGE 

WE  followed  the  glacial  river  bed  for 
thirty-three  miles  and  then  overtook  a 
four-horse  wagon  of  ours  which  had  gone  on 
ahead  of  us.  It  was  loaded  with  our  spare 
dunnage  and  the  horns,  antlers,  scalps,  and 
hides  that  we  had  secured.  As  I  had  elected 
to  walk  most  of  the  distance  to  White  Elorse, 
Billie  was  hitched  to  the  wagon,  with  Beck, 
the  lady  mule,  as  companion,  and  two  of  our 
saddle  horses  as  leaders. 

It  rained  the  night  that  we  came  up  with 
our  outfit,  and  that  was  only  the  second  rain 
of  the  whole  trip.  Two  snow  storms  and  two 
gentle  rains  during  the  entire  sixty-nine  days 
in  the  hunting  field — no  one  could  ask  for  bet- 
ter weather. 

Our  next  day's  trek  brought  us  to  an  Indian 
village,  where  most  of  the  inhabitants  were 
away  on  a  hunting  trip.  One  old  squaw  with 
tousled  hair  and  grimy  face  showing  the  rav- 
ages   of    disease — a    veritable    old    hag — ac- 


220  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

costed  us  as  we  proceeded  to  unhitch  the 
horses.  She  had  with  her  a  fierce  Indian  dog, 
and  the  wolf-dog  that  had  followed  us  all  of 
the  trip  and  this  Indian  dog  could  not  agree. 
She  was  asked  in  the  Indian  tongue  by  one 
of  our  men  to  go  into  her  cabin  and  take  her 
dog  with  her.  This  stirred  up  her  anger,  and 
she  gave  us  such  an  outburst  of  talk  as  none 
of  us  had  ever  before  heard.  We  had  the  car- 
cases of  three  young  rams  on  the  wagon  and 
the  following  morning  the  largest  of  the  three 
was  found  on  the  ground  with  nearly  half  of 
it  eaten.  It  was  at  first  thought  that  the  In- 
dian dog  had  climbed  upon  the  wagon  and 
pulled  the  carcase  off,  but  I  imagine  the  old 
hag  had  done  the  climbing  and  the  dragging, 
and  after  helping  herself  first,  had  then  left 
the  dog  to  get  his  share. 

In  the  year  1892  I  was  with  a  trans-conti- 
nental hunting  party.  We  had  a  car  built  on 
the  lines  of  a  Pullman  sleeper,  in  which  we 
ate  and  slept.  We  stopped  at  different  places 
where  the  hunting  was  good,  and  our  car 
would  be  switched  on  to  a  siding.  We  spent 
a  week  in  a  reservation  of  the  Cree  tribe  of 
Indians  away  out  in  the  flat  prairies  of  Al- 
berta Territory.  We  had  been  successful 
with  our  hunt.     We  had  a  large  number  of 


AN  INDIAN  VILLAGE         221 

wild  ducks,  mostly  mallards,  hung  along  one 
side  of  the  roof  of  the  car.  The  other  side 
was  hung  with  prairie  chickens,  while  from 
the  rear  end  of  the  car  were  suspended  thir- 
teen antelopes. 

The  white  tepees  of  the  tribe  dotted  the 
prairies  for  a  radius  of  several  miles,  and  my 
son  and  I  spent  considerable  time  in  wander- 
ing among  these  aborigines.  We  treated 
them  courteously  and  did  not  attempt  at  all 
to  pry  into  their  domestic  affairs,  but  walked 
along  as  if  we  were  on  business  bent.  We  had 
learned  from  the  man  who  was  the  station 
master,  operator,  ticket  agent,  and  jack-of-all- 
trades  for  the  railroad  company,  that  some 
persons  who  had  intruded  into  some  of  the 
tepees  had  been  rudely  handled.  The  Indi- 
an's tent  is  his  castle,  just  as  the  white  man's 
house  is  his.  Occasionally  a  buck  would  stop 
and  speak  a  few  words  with  us  and  then  go 
his  way. 

We  had  a  baggage  car  with  us  and  in  it 
we  carried  several  hunting  dogs.  Two  of 
these  were  left  outside  at  night  to  give  warn- 
ing if  any  one  should  come  near  either  of  the 
cars  to  steal  the  game.  As  the  Indians  seemed 
to  pay  no  attention  whatever  to  our  stores  of 
venison  and  wild  birds,  our  vigilance  was  re- 


222  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

laxed  for  one  night.  The  following  morning 
we  discovered  that  the  Indians  had  stolen 
seven  antelopes  out  of  the  thirteen,  and  all  of 
the  wild  ducks  were  taken,  while  the  prairie 
chickens  had  not  been  touched.  The  reason 
for  the  chickens  being  unmolested  was  that 
the  braves  could  easily  secure  these  for  them- 
selves as  they  rode  over  the  prairies,  while  no 
wild  ducks  were  to  be  found  nearer  than 
twenty  miles  away.  After  this  wholesale 
theft  the  dogs  were  kept  on  the  watch  every 
night. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  a  former 
chapter  describing  our  "going  in,"  I  said  we 
passed  through  an  Indian  village  where  all 
of  the  tribe  but  the  old  chief  and  his  wife  had 
left  for  a  moose  hunt.  After  breakfast  the 
morning  that  we  discovered  the  loss  of  the 
ram,  my  companion  and  I  walked  on  ahead  of 
the  wagon  in  order  to  stop  at  that  same  vil- 
lage to  see  what  the  Indians  might  have  for 
sale  in  the  way  of  furs. 

The  members  of  the  tribe  were  all  there, 
getting  ready  for  the  opening  of  the  trapping 
season.  The  village  was  bustling  with  activ- 
ity, as  much  as  Indians  can  bustle.  I  went 
into  a  trading  store,  and  met  a  white  man 
from  New  York  state  who  had  settled  there. 


AN  INDIAN  VILLAGE  223 

He  had  married  a  handsome  young  squaw. 
Her  three  children — two  boys  and  a  girl — 
were  healthy  looking  and  apparently  very 
happy.  The  morning  was  quite  cold,  the 
glass  registering  about  twenty-two  degrees, 
yet  the  youngsters  had  no  hats  on,  and  their 
clothing  was  very  light.  Their  cheeks  were 
rosy,  their  hair  was  nicely  combed,  and  their 
faces  were  clean.  I  asked  their  father — the 
trader — if  he  had  any  ''whistler"  skins  (skins 
of  the  whistling  marmot).  "No,"  he  replied, 
"but  I'll  send  my  boy  over  to  an  Indian  who 
has  eighteen  good  ones  that  he'll  sell."  He 
spoke  to  the  boy  and  off  the  lad  went  on  the 
run.  He  came  back  with  one  skin,  the  price 
being  a  dollar.  As  this  was  twice  w^hat  I  w^as 
told  they  were  worth,  I  took  but  the  one  to 
bring  home  as  a  sample,  and  then  bought  some 
articles  of  Indian  manufacture  as  curios. 

While  paying  for  these  purchases  a  loud 
shouting  was  heard,  and  on  looking  out  I  saw 
our  wagon  team  of  two  mules  and  two  horses 
dashing  away  in  spite  of  the  driver's  efforts 
to  hold  them.  The  team  was  going  up  hill 
and  the  stiff  ascent  soon  calmed  them  down. 
Running  up  to  the  w-agon  we  found  that  a 
young  Indian  had  come  alongside  of  Billie 
to  speak  to  the  driver,  and  at  once  the  noble 


224  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

mule  had  become  panic-stricken,  and  had 
tried  to  jump  over  Beck's  back,  causing  all 
the  horses  to  become  frightened.  This  was 
the  only  incident  in  the  whole  of  our  home 
journey  where  Billie  lost  his  equilibrium. 

The  village  we  had  stopped  at  is  quite  a  fur 
emporium,  the  surrounding  territory  being 
considered  an  excellent  trapping  district.  As 
far  as  we  could  learn,  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany had  never  reached  out  into  this  far- 
western  portion  of  the  Upper  Yukon,  although 
they  did  have  a  fort  on  the  head  waters  of 
the  Yukon  River  itself. 

An  eloquent  writer,  Agnes  Dean  Cameron, 
has  graphically  pictured  the  usual  starting 
scenes  of  the  trappers  for  their  winter's  work: 

"All  through  the  Canadian  north  the  Yukon 
rush  of  ten  years  ago  has  left  an  aftermath  of 
derelicts,  human  boulder-drifts  from  the 
world's  four  corners,  who,  failing  to  find  a 
fortune  in  gold,  now  tread  the  silent  places 
seeking  a  bare  living  from  the  trade  in 
peltries.  The  Indian  hunters  belong  to  many 
tribes,  Crees,  Chipewyans,  Dog-Ribs,  Yellow- 
Knives,  Slavis,  Beavers,  and  Loucheux.  They 
all  trap  and  trade. 

"In  the  ranks  of  the  trappers  one  comes 
across  strange  workers.     On  the  shores  of  the 


AN  INDIAN  VILLAGE         225 

Lesser  Slave  you  stumble  upon  a  London 
University  graduate,  who  finds  the  search  for 
fur  more  fascinating  than  integral  calculus 
or  conic  sections. 

''It  is  becoming  usual  among  hunters  and 
trappers  to  specialize,  as  doctors  do,  and  so 
one  hunter,  bearwise,  bends  all  his  energies 
towards  bearskins ;  another  studies  foxes  to 
their  downfall;  a  third  hunts  moose  alone, 
that  big-nosed  Hebrew  of  the  woods.  Here 
as  elsewhere  the  man  who  mixes  brain  with 
his  bait,  and  makes  a  scientific  art  of  a  rude 
craft  is  the  man  who  succeeds.  His  trapping 
is  the  highest  product  of  nemoral  science  and 
not  the  cometary  career  of  luck  of  the  rule- 
of-thumb  trapper.  It  is  a  contest  of  wits 
worthy  the  cleverest.  The  furbearers,  as  the 
years  pass,  become  more,  rather  than  less 
wary,  and  the  days  of  the  magenta  string  tying 
a  chunk  of  fat  to  a  nice  new  shiny  trap  are 
long  past.  The  man  who  used  to  'make 
fur'  in  that  way  is,  like  Fenimore  Cooper's 
Indian,  the  extinct  product  of  a  past  race  that 
never  existed. 

"The  Canadian  trapper  eats  or  dries  every 
ounce  of  flesh  he  traps,  from  the  scant  flesh- 
covering  of  the  skull  to  the  feet  and  the  en- 
trails.    As  soon  as  the  skins  of  bear  and  mus- 


226  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

quash  are  removed,  the  bodies — so  many 
skinned  cats — are  impaled  on  a  stick  of  Jack 
pine  and  set  sizzling  before  the  fire. 

*'In  the  fur-land  when  the  leaves  fall,  the 
beaver,  giving  over  his  daub-work  and  wattles, 
sets  the  family  to  work  storing  up  the  winter 
groceries.  There  is  the  challenge  of  frost  in 
the  air  and  the  southward  flight  of  birds. 
Some  old  primal  instinct  stirs  the  blood  of  the 
trapper;  he  hears  the  north  a-callin',  it  is  time 
to  go.  The  factor  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  fort 
gaily  farewells  him,  glad  to  have  him  go;  the 
priest,  the  old  men  of  the  lodges  and  the  blind 
'old  wives,'  little  kiddies  and  lean,  snapping 
dogs  come  out  to  bid  him  God-speed.  Leaves 
will  be  budding  on  the  birches  when  he  re- 
turns. The  curtain  of  silence  cuts  him  off 
from  the  fellowship  of  the  fort  for  many 
moons,  once  he  lifts  the  curtain  of  that  ghostly 
woodland.  It  is  paddle  and  portage  for  days 
and  weary  weeks,  inland  and  ever  inland; 
then  the  frost  crisps  into  silence,  the  running 
water  and  the  lake  lip.  The  grind  of  form- 
ing ice  warns  our  trapper  it  is  time  to  change 
birchbark  for  moccasin  and  snowshoe.  The 
canoe  is  cached  and  the  trail  strikes  into  the 
banksian  pine  and  birch  woods. 

''The  door  of  the  forest  is  lonely  and  eerie. 


AN  INDIAN  VILLAGE         227 

It  no  longer  seems  incongruous  that,  although 
Pierre  wears  a  scapular  on  his  burnt-umber 
breast  and  carries  with  him  on  his  journey  the 
blessing  of  the  good  Father,  he  also  murmurs 
the  hunting  incantation  of  the  Chipewyans 
and  hangs  the  finest  furs  of  his  traps  flapping 
in  the  tops  of  the  pines — a  superstitious  sop  to 
the  Cerberus  of  the  woodland  Wentigo. 

"If  the  trapper  is  married — and  most  of 
them  are  much-married — his  spouse  and 
dusky  brood  accompany  him  into  the  woods 
and  frozen  winter  sees  nomad  families,  each 
little  group  a  vignette  in  the  heart  of  the  wider 
panorama,  flitting  over  lake  surfaces  to  their 
individual  fur-preserves.  In  the  woods,  in 
tepee,  tent,  or  rough  shack  the  family  fires 
are  lighted,  and  from  this  center  the  trap- 
per radiates.  The  hunter  traps  for  miles  and 
days  alone,  and  an  accident  in  the  woods 
means  a  death  as  lonely  and  agonizing,  as  that 
of  the  animal  he  snares.  Sometimes  he  goes 
insane  and  then  the  Royal  Northwest 
Mounted  Policeman,  another  sentinel  of  si- 
lence, handcuffs  him,  saves  him  from  himself, 
and  takes  him  'outside.' 

"Possibly  the  trapper  places  150  snares, 
and  his  line  of  traps  may  extend  for  30  or  40 
miles.     Ere  first  snow  flies  he  has  all  his  traps 


228  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

ready  waiting  for  the  tell-tale  tracks  in  the 
snow,  which  shall  point  out  to  him  each  coign 
of  vantage  for  the  placing  of  a  cunning  lure. 

"With  blanket,  bait  and  bacon  on  a  hand- 
sled,  silently  he  trudges  forward.  The  north- 
ern lights  come  down  o'  nights  and  it  is  cold, 
but  cold  makes  finer  fur.  Down  far  trails  in 
gloomy  forests,  across  the  breast  of  silenced 
streams,  he  trudges  from  trap  to  trap.  If  he 
finds  $50  worth  of  fur  along  the  whole  line  of 
traps  he  is  content.  It  is  not  this  lonely  man 
who  gets  the  high  price,  madame,  for  your 
opera  cloak  of  ermine. 

"When  Pierre  is  not  'making  fur'  or  making 
love,  he  is  eating.  On  the  trail  he  may  go 
hungry  for  two  days  with  no  word  of  com- 
plaint, just  a  tightening  of  the  lips  and  of 
L'Assumption  belt,  and  a  firm  set  to  the  jaw 
but  while  the  moose  lasts,  life  is  one  long 
supper. 

"Meat  (pronounced  throughout  the  north 
'mit')  is  the  great  staple  in  the  land  of  fur. 
On  the  trail  one  finds  one's  self  assimilating 
helpings  of  'deer  mit,'  and  greedily  gulping 
chunks  of  fat;  the  rations  of  the  trapper  would 
be  the  despair  of  Dickens'  Miss  Todgers,  who 
could  never  bring  the  supply  of  gravy  up  to 
the  demand.     In  the  old  days  the  H.  B.  Com- 


AN  INDIAN  VILLAGE         229 

pany  allowed  its  men  en-voyage  five  pounds 
of  meat  a  day,  while  the  kiddies  were  entitled 
to  three  pounds  each  from  the  community 
larder.  In  British  Columbia  and  the  Yukon 
the  allowance  was  one  salmon;  on  the  Atha- 
basca one  wild  goose  or  three  whitefish;  and 
up  on  the  Arctic  foreshore,  two  fish  and  three 
pounds  of  reindeer  meat.  This  was  the  sched- 
uled fare,  but  the  grimness  of  the  joke  ap- 
pears in  the  fact  that  the  man  had  to  run  his 
breakfast  to  earth  before  he  had  it. 

"During  the  last  five  years,  furs  the  world 
over  have  been  increasingly  fashionable,  with 
a  corresponding  advance  in  prices.  To  this 
end  no  one  cause  has  contributed  so  strongly 
as  the  automobile.  The  quick,  exhilarating 
motion  makes  necessary  warm  clothing  of 
compact  texture.     This  is  a  self-evident  truth. 

"Should  the  most  valuable  fox  that  runs  be 
called  a  black  fox  of  a  silver  fox?  What  is 
the  highest  price  ever  paid  for  a  single  fox 
skin?  Don't  try  to  get  to  the  bottom  of  these 
innocent  looking  demands.  That  way  mad- 
ness lies.     How  old  is  Ann?  pales  before  this. 

^'Canadian  foxes  present  themselves  patri- 
otically in  red,  white  and  blue;  there  are  also 
black  foxes  and  silver  ones.  The  white  and 
blue  phases  of  the  Arctic  fox  (eanis  lagapus) 


230  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

are  the  winter  dress  of  different  animals  not 
winter  and  summer  coats  of  the  same  animal. 
In  1 89 1  nine  thousand  white  foxskins  were 
sent  to  London  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany. The  white  fox  is  found  as  far  north  as 
any  animal  life." 

This  tribe  of  Indians  whose  village  we 
passed  through  twice,  bear  a  striking  likeness 
to  the  Japanese,  so  much  so  that  it  is  some- 
times difBcult  to  differentiate  between  a  Japa- 
nese immigrant  and  a  native  of  this  tribe. 
Learned  ethnologists  believe  that  in  the  re- 
mote past  at  least  some  of  the  Indian  tribes 
of  the  Yukon  came  from  Japan  by  way  of  Si- 
beria, crossing  Behring  Sea  on  the  ice  and  set- 
tling there  to  hunt  and  fish. 

They  have  traditions  that  seem  analogous 
to  those  that  pertain  to  the  Jewish  race.  They 
have  one  well-defined  tradition  of  the  flood 
which  is  well  worth  deep  and  earnest  consid- 
eration. This  is  the  story  as  given  by  an  In- 
dian woman,  the  wife  of  our  Chief,  who 
claims  that  it  has  come  down  from  generation 
to  generation  among  her  own  people. 

''In  the  Yukon  there  were  twelve  large 
mountains  that  carried  their  peaks  up  to  the 
very  sky;  one  of  them  is  even  now  called  Jubi- 
lee Mountain.     It  is  located  near  the  center 


AN  INDIAN  VILLAGE         231 

of  the  space  in  which  the  other  eleven  are 
located.  This  towers  above  all  the  rest  so 
that  from  its  crest  nearly  all  the  wilderness 
world  can  be  seen.  Many  ages  ago  a  medi- 
cine man  warned  the  people  of  our  tribe  that 
big  rains  would  come  and  fill  all  the  valleys. 
These  big  waters  from  the  sky  were  to  get 
deeper  every  day  because  the  rain  would  not 
stop  coming  down,  until  forty  days  and  nights 
had  passed  away.  The  medicine  man  said 
every  brave,  every  squaw,  and  every  boy  and 
girl  should  climb  to  the  top  of  the  great  moun- 
tain and  take  plenty  blankets  and  meat  along, 
and  after  the  ground  had  been  watered  forty 
days  the  water  would  commence  to  go  to  its 
own  home — the  place  of  the  big  waters. 

"This  word  was  passed  to  all  our  people, 
and  most  of  them  obeyed  the  medicine  man's 
commands.  Soon  were  seen  families  of  In- 
dians coming  from  all  over  the  country.  They 
were  told  to  bring  their  blankets  which  were 
to  keep  them  warm  and  shed  the  rain  from 
them  during  the  forty  days'  downpour. 

"They  were  warned  not  to  kill  any  game 
animals  but  to  help  to  drive  as  many  as  they 
could  to  the  summit  of  Jubilee  Mountain,  so 
that  when  the  rush  of  waters  was  over  there 
would   be   enough   animals   left   to   take   the 


232  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

places  of  those  that  would  be  drowned.  Then 
they  were  commanded  to  build  a  great  raft 
and  as  the  waters  arose  and  drowned  the  ani- 
mals who  could  not  reach  the  mountain  in  time 
to  escape,  they  should  drag  the  animals  on  to 
the  raft  and  use  them  for  food.  Under  pain 
of  death  no  Indian  was  to  kill  any  animal 
whatsoever,  but  they  should  use  every  means 
to  save  them. 

"A  large  number  of  the  natives  obeyed  the 
medicine  man's  instructions,  and  succeeded  in 
reaching  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  but  very 
many  laughed  at  our  people  whom  they  called 
silly  old  women  to  believe  in  such  a  tale. 

"But  the  rain  came,  even  before  the  great 
raft  was  finished,  and  it  took  many  days  be- 
fore it  was  all  put  together  so  that  it  would 
float.  Then  all  kinds  of  birds  and  animals, 
the  caribou,  the  moose,  the  mountain  sheep, 
the  goat,  the  fox,  wolf,  wolverine,  bear,  skunk, 
lynx,  coyote,  squirrel,  gopher,  whistling  mar- 
mot, besides  crawling  insects  of  every  kind,  as 
well  as  those  that  could  fly,  commenced  to  run 
before  the  big  waters.  They  were  driven  and 
helped  up  the  sides  of  the  mountain  by  our 
people,  but  those  that  were  too  far  away  to  be 
saved  were  drowned.  Their  bodies  were 
caught  as  they  floated  around,  and  put  on  the 


AN  INDIAN  VILLAGE         233 

raft  and  were  used  as  food  for  all  the  people, 
and  also  for  those  animals,  birds,  and  insects 
that  had  obeyed  the  medicine  man's  command. 

"When  the  forty  days  had  expired  the  rain 
stopped,  the  waters  gradually  ran  away,  and 
the  animals  which  had  lived  in  harmony  with 
each  other  on  the  great  mountain  came  down 
and  departed  to  their  various  homes  and  feed- 
ing grounds." 

The  woman  who  gave  us  this  version  of  a 
widely  disseminated  tradition  of  her  race,  also 
stated  that  when  she  was  eight  years  old,  her 
father  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Jubilee  Moun- 
tain, taking  her  with  him.  The  great  raft  was 
then  resting  upon  the  crest,  but  covered  over 
with  thick  ice,  and  very  deep  snow.  It  is  said 
that  traditions  of  the  flood  are  to  be  found  in 
the  annals  of  many  of  the  ancient  Eastern 
countries,  but  this  is  the  first  that  I  have  ever 
heard  of  an  Indian  tradition  of  the  flood  and 
it  is  just  possible  therefore  that  this  one  is  of 
Japanese  origin. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  RETURN  TO  WHITE  HORSE 

"Hence!     Home,  you  idle  creatures,  get  you  home.     Is 
this  a  holiday?" 

THE  return  journey  had  been  an  enjoy- 
able one  as  the  weather  was  cool  and 
pleasant;  and  being  hardened  by  our  ex- 
posure to  the  elements  we  did  not  mind  the 
few  cold  nights  or  the  occasional  high  winds. 
For  my  part,  while  I  rejoiced  to  be  within 
telegraphic  reach  of  home  once  more,  yet  I 
felt  reluctant  at  leaving  a  region  that  above 
all  other  countries  that  I  have  ever  been  in 
seemed  most  like  a  fairy  land.  Whether  it 
was  the  exhilarating  influence  of  the  pure  air, 
the  glorious  scenery,  the  continual  daily 
changes  of  hunting  grounds  with  the  attend- 
ant excitements  of  the  hunt,  or  the  exuberant 
health  which  I  had  enjoyed,  T  know  not;  but 
I  really  felt  deep  regret  when  we  finally 
pulled  into  White  H^orse  at  about  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  fourteenth  of  Octo- 
ber. 


RETURN  TO  WHITE  HORSE     235 

I  could  not  think  of  parting  with  Billie 
without  emotion.  The  next  morning  after 
our  arrival  at  White  Horse  I  went  to  the  sta- 
ble where  he  was  quietly  eating  his  breakfast, 
and  called  to  him.  As  soon  as  I  entered  he 
at  once  turned  his  head  and  I  patted  him  on 
his  forehead  and  put  my  arm  around  his  neck 
while  he  rubbed  his  nose  against  my  hand.  I 
really  cannot  explain  how  the  thought  origi- 
nated, but  I  felt  he  realized  that  we  were  to 
part  forever. 

Amid  the  rush  and  bustle  of  the  following 
morning  when  we  were  trying  to  get  things 
in  shape  to  leave,  I  again  opened  the  stable 
door  and  greeted  him  with  a  "Hello,  Billie." 
How  his  glorious  eyes  did  shine  as  he  gave 
me  a  morning  welcome  1  I  spent  with  him  all. 
the  precious  minutes  that  could  be  spared,  and 
walked  away  from  him  backwards  so  that  he 
could  see  me  and  I  him  until  a  corner  had  to 
be  turned  and  he  was  out  of  sight. 

He  had  carried  me  on  his  back  at  least  a 
thousand  miles.  He  had  jumped  across 
chasms  that  most  horses  would  not  dream  of 
taking.  He  had  forded  many  streams  with 
me  on  his  back,  had  several  times  slid  down 
steep  declines  with  all  his  feet  bunched  to- 
gether, and  had  safely  carried  me  up  moun- 


236  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

tain  sides  that  seemed  impossible  of  ascent. 

Once  we  were  working  down  the  side  of  a 
rocky  mountain  in  order  to  cross  to  another 
one  equally  rough,  when  we  came  to  a  deep 
chasm  with  a  little  stream  of  water  running 
through  it  away  down  below.  To  me  it 
looked  an  easy  jump  for  Billie.  He,  however, 
looked  at  the  other  side,  and  evidently  made 
up  his  mind  that  the  landing  was  bad.  He 
turned  abruptly  around,  and  felt  his  way  still 
further  down  that  side.  Then  he  stopped, 
looked  at  the  far  side,  and  perhaps  noted  a 
flat  place  where  he  could  land  in  safety,  for 
without  any  ado  he  gathered  himself  together 
and  made  the  jump  as  easily  as  a  bob-cat  or  a 
lynx  could  have  done.  Then  without  urg- 
ing he  commenced  to  climb  the  other  moun- 
tain as  if  he  knew  just  what  was  wanted  of 
him. 

On  another  occasion  we  suddenly  came  to  a 
small  brook  running  through  a  deep  ravine 
with  a  heavy  growth  of  willow  brush  on  each 
side.  He  pushed  through  the  willows  and 
when  he  jumped  he  threw  his  head  as  far  back 
as  possible  so  that  the  willows  would  not  strike 
his  eyes. 

To  me  he  was  always  gentle  and  always 
ready  for  his  work.     One  day  while  stalking 


■•  •  \ 


RETURN  TO  WHITE  HORSE     237 

a  mountain  ram,  I  had  to  leave  him,  so  I 
pulled  the  bridle  over  his  head  and  left  him 
standing  loose.  We  were  gone  over  three 
hours  before  we  came  back,  and  on  our  re- 
turn he  was  standing  where  I  had  left  him — 
he  had  not  moved  a  step. 

Every  morning  when  the  horses  would  be 
brought  to  the  camp  from  their  feeding 
ground  during  the  night,  I  would  give  him 
some  pancakes  that  I  had  saved  or  a  couple 
of  mutton  chops,  which  he  always  ate  with 
relish,  crunching  the  bones  and  swallowing 
them  as  well  as  the  meat.  Sometimes  I  would 
give  him  the  half  of  a  ptarmigan  and  to  him 
that  was  a  delightful  morsel.  When  the  fif- 
teen head  of  horses  would  be  seen  coming,  I 
would  call  out,  "Billie;  here  Billie,"  and  he 
would  lose  no  time  in  running  ahead  for  his 
pancakes. 

I  do  not  expect  ever  to  meet  with  his  equal 
again.  In  time  I  will  no  doubt  gradually  for- 
get the  many  exciting  stalks,  the  interest  of 
the  hunt  itself,  and  the  bringing  to  camp  of 
the  game,  but  never  as  long  as  life  shall  last 
will  I  forget  Billie. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  we  arrived  at 
White  Horse  going  ^'in"  on  the  evening  of 
the  fourteenth  of  August.     When  we  came 


238  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

"out"  we  arrived  back  on  the  evening  of  the 
fourteenth  of  October.  We  had  time  to 
change  our  clothes  and  get  a  good  wash  before 
supper  w^as  announced  at  the  hotel.  We  had 
been  accompanied  back  by  our  Chief,  the  sec- 
ond guide,  the  cook,  and  his  brother  the  wran- 
gler. The  Chief  and  Guide  Number  Two 
took  their  meals  at  our  caravansary,  and  we 
had  an  opportunity  to  note  w^hat  appetites 
these  frontiersmen  can  cultivate  when  they 
reach  civilization.  It  may  seem  an  incredible 
story  that  I  have  to  tell,  but  it  is  true.  When 
our  Chief  sat  down  to  his  first  meal,  which 
was  supper,  he  ordered  two  dozen  raw  eggs, 
and  after  he  had  stowed  these  away  in  the  ca- 
pacious folds  of  his  stomach  he  ordered  his 
regular  supper.  The  next  morning  his  first 
order  was  three  dozen  of  fried  eggs,  fried  six 
at  a  time,  and  then  came  his  regular  break- 
fast. We  were  told  that  eggs  were  worth  one 
dollar  and  fifty  cents  per  dozen  and  it  is  to 
be  presumed  that  the  balance  of  the  food  or- 
dered would  be  equally  high,  so  it  can  be  easily 
seen  that  the  high  cost  of  living  had  no  terrors 
for  the  Chief. 

The  next  day  was  devoted  to  getting  things 
shaped  up  so  as  to  leave  the  following  morn- 
ing on  the  train  for  Skagway.     Our  licenses 


RETURN  TO  WHITE  HORSE     239 

had  to  be  inspected  and  endorsed.  Crates  had 
to  be  made  in  which  to  ship  the  horns,  antlers, 
scalps,  and  hides.  This  took  a  carpenter  all 
of  the  afternoon  and  night,  and  he  was  still 
working  when  the  sun  arose  on  the  morning 
of  the  sixteenth.  We  settled  our  bill  with  the 
men  and  with  the  outfitters  who  had  attended 
to  our  supplies.  It  is  but  right  to  say  that 
everything  the  merchants  furnished  was  of  ex- 
cellent quality  and  the  prices  were  very  rea- 
sonable considering  the  high  rate  of  freight 
which  obtains  for  all  classes  of  merchandise 
carried  over  the  White  Horse  Pass  Railroad. 

When  you  know  that  the  lowest  rate  for 
such  things  as  potatoes,  flour,  salt,  pork,  sugar, 
etc.,  is  4I/2  cents  per  pound  for  the  haul  of 
one  hundred  and  ten  miles,  you  do  not  wonder 
at  paying  five  dollars  a  bushel  for  potatoes 
and  two  dollars  a  gallon  for  gasoline  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  in  the  interior. 

A  few  prices  which  we  paid  for  supplies 
may  prove  interesting: 

450  lbs.  Flour  $20.25 

250  lbs.  Sugar   25.00 

200  lbs.  Salt 12.00 

50  lbs.  Beans  6.00 

58  lbs.  Canned  Butter 31 -90 

3  cans  Dehydrated  Potatoes 13.50 


240  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

20   lbs.   Lard $  4.60 

48  lbs.  Bacon   1345 

2  gals.  Syrup   3.00 

2  Cases  Cream    14.00 

1  Case  Milk 8.25 

3  lbs.  Pepper   1.95 

20  lbs.  Coffee 9.50 

5  lbs.  Cocoa    .  . .  ., 5.00 

6  doz.  Baker's  Eggs   7.80 

2  Cans  Deh3'drated   Raspberries    13.00 

I  Case  Canned  Tomatoes 6.50 

10  lbs.  Evap.  Apricots   2.50 

40   lbs.    Onions    4.00 

100  lbs.  Potatoes   7.00 

40  lbs.  Sugar   4.00 

I  Case  Eggs 14.00 

The  bill  for  all  the  supplies  amounted  to 
$378.65.  In  addition  to  this,  one  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  seventy-three  pounds  of  sup- 
plies had  been  sent  in  ahead  of  us  in  July.  The 
hauling  of  this  lot  by  wagon  and  pack-horses 
at  10  cents  per  pound  amounted  to  $197.30, 
making  the  item  of  food  supplied  $575.95, 
which  is  a  modest  amount  considering  the 
high  railroad  rates  and  the  fact  that  the  qual- 
ity of  every  single  item  was  really  first-class. 
The  packing  was  so  deftly  and  firmly  done 
that  there  was  practically  no  breakage. 

I  know  not  whether  every  one  is  treated  as 
well  as  we  were  in  White  Horse.     The  chief 


RETURN  TO  WHITE  HORSE     241 

of  the  Customs  Department,  the  hotel  people, 
the  cashier  of  the  Bank  of  Commerce — who 
cashed  our  checks  for  several  thousand  dol- 
lars— and  the  lady  in  the  post-office  all  treated 
us  most  courteously  and  kindly. 

The  morning  that  we  left  we  went  to  the 
post-office  to  see  if  there  was  any  mail.  There 
was  not.  We  had  received  a  large  bundle  of 
letters  and  papers  when  we  arrived  in  White 
Horse  two  days  before,  so  were  not  much  dis- 
appointed. 

The  crates  were  not  finished  until  nearly 
nine  o'clock,  and  the  train  was  to  start  at  9.30. 
There  was  much  hurrying  to  and  fro.  A  con- 
sul had  to  be  seen,  many  papers  had  to  be 
signed,  and  during  all  this  bustle  I  noticed  the 
young  postmistress  in  the  station  standing  pa- 
tiently, apparently  waiting  a  chance  to  speak 
to  me.  So  when  I  had  an  opportunity  I  went 
over  to  her.  Two  letters  had  turned  up  since 
I  had  been  in  the  post-office,  and  she  had  put 
herself  to  the  trouble  of  bringing  them  to  me. 
As  each  missive  was  from  a  member  of  my 
family  at  home,  you  can  imagine  how  much  I 
appreciated  her  kindness. 

Our  precious  crates  had  been  loaded  upon 
a  car,  but  the  train  started  without  the  car. 
There  was   another  hunting  party  to   come 


242  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

down  the  following  day,  and  we  were  told 
that  their  outfit  and  ours  would  both  be  placed 
in  the  same  car.  This  would  save  the  rail- 
road company  the  expense  of  sending  two  cars 
where  one  would  do  as  well. 

The  mountain  scenery  going  down  to  Skag- 
way  was  equally  as  grand  as  it  had  been  on 
the  trip  up,  but  we  had  seen  so  many  moun- 
tains and  canyons  in  the  meantime  that  were 
higher  and  grander  in  every  way  that  the  im- 
pression left  on  the  mind  was  not  so  vivid  as 
on  the  first  trip. 

Skagway  seemed  to  be  completely  filled 
with  people  waiting  for  the  Vancouver 
steamer,  which  was  to  leave  that  evening. 
Most  of  them  were  miners,  business  men  or 
visitors  from  Dawson  getting  "out"  before  the 
Yukon  River  should  freeze  over.  We  were 
therefore  unable  to  obtain  accommodations  on 
that  boat,  as  every  berth  was  taken. 

A  Seattle  steamer  was  expected  to  arrive 
the  next  day,  so  a  stateroom  was  secured  on 
her  and  we  waited  patiently  for  her  arrival. 
At  noon  her  sonorous  whistle  announced  her 
arrival.  Her  freight  for  Skagway  took  but 
little  time  to  lift  out  of  her  hold,  and  the  down 
cargo  was  as  quickly  stowed  in  the  vacant 
space;  so  the  vessel  was  soon  ready  to  com- 


Mrs.  Dickson  and  Family 


RETURN  TO  WHITE  HORSE     243 

mence  her  return  trip.  Then  it  was  an- 
nounced that  the  train  having  the  second  hunt- 
ing party  aboard,  and  our  crates  as  well,  was 
reported  four  and  a  half  hours  late.  In  place 
of  arriving  at  4.30  P.  M.  she  would  not  arrive 
until  nearly  nine  o'clock.  It  was  said  that  the 
captain  of  the  steamer  had  orders  not  to  wait, 
and  there  was  much  'phoning  and  many  trips 
down  to  the  steamer,  which  lay  a  mile  and  a 
half  away.     The  captain  waited,  however. 

It  would  need  the  signature  of  the  Ameri- 
can inspector  to  pass  our  crates  of  horns,  etc., 
and  as  his  office  closed  at  4.30  P.  M.,  I  found 
out  his  home  address.  At  about  six  o'clock  I 
went  to  his  house  and  hold  him  of  our  anxiety 
to  get  oflf  on  the  steamer  that  night,  and  that 
our  stuff  could  not  go  without  his  signature 
to  the  necessary  papers.  I  found  him  to  be  a 
courteous  and  kindly  young  man. 

He  promptly  and  cheerfully  agreed  to  be 
at  the  station  to  sign  the  papers,  no  matter 
what  time  the  train  arrived,  and  I  hurried 
back  to  the  station.  On  nearing  it  a  great 
crowd  of  people  was  surging  around  it,  and 
every  one  seemed  to  be  wild  with  excitement. 
I  was  told  that  an  exployee  of  the  express  com- 
pany had  been  blackjacked  into  insensibility 
but  a  few  minutes  before,  and  seven  hundred 


244  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

dollars  had  been  taken  from  him.  He  had 
been  carried  to  the  hospital  in  an  insensible 
condition. 

There  was  some  eager  hunting  for  the  one 
magistrate  of  the  town,  and  for  the  one  po- 
liceman. What  made  the  outrage  look  so 
peculiar  was  the  fact  that  the  year  before  a 
similar  robbery  had  been  committed  at  about 
the  same  time. 

Reports  coming  from  the  hospital  before  we 
left  stated  that  the  man  had  been  restored  to 
consciousness  and  that  he  was  resting  quietly. 
When  the  train  finally  did  arrive  we  found 
that  the  car  containing  the  crates  for  both 
hunting  parties  had  been  left  at  the  summit, 
many  miles  from  Skagway.  Why  this  was 
done  none  could  tell,  as  it  was  all  down  hill 
from  the  divide  to  Skagway.  The  inspector 
promised  to  attend  to  our  freight  when  it  did 
arrive,  and  as  we  could  do  nothing  else  we 
made  our  way  to  the  steamer. 

We  were  under  many  obligations  to  Mrs. 
Harriet  Pullen,  the  proprietress  of  the  Pullen 
House,  who  did  everything  she  could  to  bring 
order  out  of  chaos,  even  to  going  down  to  the 
vessel  and  inviting  the  captain  and  the  chief 
engineer  to  take  dinner  with  her,  thus  giving 
us  an  opportunity  to  be  introduced  to  them 


RETURN  TO  WHITE  HORSE     245 

and  to  see  that  the  boat  did  not  get  away  with- 
out us. 

The  incident  of  the  robbery  gave  the  cap- 
tain considerable  trouble.  Many  of  the  pas- 
sengers had  their  baggage  searched  before  we 
left,  and  a  sharp  eye  was  kept  upon  all  of  the 
steerage  or  second-class  passengers  to  see  if  the 
supposed  robber  was  aboard. 

The  story  was  wired  ahead  of  us  to  Seattle. 
When  we  reached  there  at  five  A.M.,  we  were 
delayed  nearly  an  hour  before  we  were  per- 
mitted to  go  ashore,  because  of  the  necessity 
of  making  another  thorough  examination. 

No  suspect  was  found  and  there  was  a  good 
reason  why.  It  developed  some  time  later 
that  the  man  who  claimed  to  have  been 
knocked  down,  robbed,  and  nearly  killed,  had 
inflicted  the  wounds  upon  himself.  He  had 
stolen  seven  hundred  dollars  from  the  express 
company  and  had  hit  upon  this  plan  to  get 
himself  out  of  trouble.  He  made  a  complete 
confession  and  so  ended  the  story  of  "the  at- 
tempted murder." 

The  trip  down  to  Seattle  was  interesting 
and  very  enjoyable,  although  we  arrived  three 
days  late.  This  was  caused  by  having  to  stop 
frequently  to  take  on  large  shipments  of 
canned  salmon,  as  the  canneries  had  ceased 


246  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

operations  and  were  closing  up.  We  also 
brought  the  cannery  employees  along,  most  of 
them  being  Chinese  or  "Chinks,"  as  they  are 
called  by  the  natives. 

We  made  long  stops  at  Juneau,  the  capital 
of  Alaska,  and  at  Katchikan,  Glacier  Bay,  and 
other  salmon  fishing  ports.  Katchikan  is  a 
town  built  on  stilts  where  a  very  large  cannery 
is  in  operation.  Here  we  took  on  a  thousand 
or  more  cases  of  canned  salmon  and  eighty- 
three  cases  of  fresh  halibut,  each  case  weigh- 
ing eight  hundred  pounds.  This  was  billed 
through  to  China.  Just  imagine  three  hun- 
dred and  thirty-two  tons  of  fresh  halibut  being 
shipped  all  the  way  to  the  land  of  Confucius. 

At  Wrangle  we  stopped  for  a  while,  took 
on  some  cargo,  and  thoroughly  investigated 
this  quaint  old  town.  Two  days  before  our 
arrival  at  Seattle  we  awoke  in  the  morning  to 
find  a  steamer  following  behind  us  closely,  and 
we  saw  that  she  was  trying  to  pass  us.  It  was 
the  Steamer  Admiral  Sansom  bound  from 
Seward  to  Seattle.  It  was  believed  that  she 
would  have  some  hunters  aboard  of  her  from 
the  Kenai  Peninsula.  A  wireless  message 
from  our  boat  was  sent  to  her  asking  if  Mr. 
Wilson  Potter  was  on  board.  A  reply  came 
back  almost  instantly: 


RETURN  TO  WHITE  HORSE     247 

"Yes,  and  several  other  hunting  parties  are 
aboard  with  him." 

It  reminded  me  of  Puck's  boast,  "I'll  put  a 
girdle  round  about  the  earth  in  forty  minutes." 
It  seemed  strange  to  know  that  the  man  who 
had  helped  me  to  make  all  the  arrangements 
for  my  successful  trip  in  the  Yukon  was  right 
here  within  talking  distance  of  us,  and  in  a 
few  hours  would  meet  me  in  Seattle. 

Mr.  Potter  and  his  party,  together  with  the 
other  hunters  sailing  on  the  Admiral  Sansom, 
had  been  in  the  Kenai  Peninsula  and  had  been 
taken  on  the  steamer  at  Seward,  Alaska.  As 
the  steamer  makes  only  one  trip  a  month  to 
Seward,  it  behooved  all  of  the  hunters  to  be 
"out"  in  time  to  meet  her.  Each  hunter  had 
been  successful  in  killing  several  bull  moose 
and  bears,  besides  a  number  of  white  sheep. 

At  noon  of  the  day  of  our  arrival  we  all  met 
at  a  dinner  in  a  large  hotel  as  the  guests  of  Mr. 
Potter,  and  a  few  of  the  experiences  of  each 
party  were  rehearsed. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  DISCOVERY  OF  A  NEW  TERRITORY 

"Thus  far  into  the  bowels  of  the  land, 
Have  we  marched  on  without  impediment." 

THROUGH  the  courtesy  of  the  Hon.  H. 
H.  Stevens,  M.  P.  for  the  District  of 
Vancouver,  I  have  been  fortunate  enough  to 
obtain  copies  of  all  the  so-called  old,  and 
many  of  the  new,  surveys  of  the  Pelly- Yukon 
River  district. 

It  will  surprise  most  people  to  know  that 
the  first  prospector  to  cross  from  the  coast  to 
the  headwaters  of  the  Yukon  River  was  one 
George  Holt — according  to  the  report  of 
George  M.  Dawson,  C.  M.  G.,  L.  L.  L., 
F.  R.  S.,  by  all  odds  the  most  famous  sur- 
veyor, geologist,  and  naturalist  among  Cana- 
dian scientists. 

Holt's  journey  was  made  in  1878,  so  that  at 
the  present  time  the  short  space  of  thirty-five 
years  only  divides  this  now  well-known  ter- 
ritory from  the  oblivion  in  which  it  was  in- 
volved prior  to  that  year. 


A  NEW  TERRITORY  249 

The  intrepid  George  Holt  was  afterwards 
murdered  by  Indians  at  Cook's  Inlet,  Alaska, 
in  1885,  seven  years  after  his  successful  jour- 
ney from  ocean  to  river. 

To  quote  from  Dawson:  "In  1880  a  pros- 
pecting party  of  nineteen  men  under  one  Ed- 
win Bean  was  organized  in  Sitka.  Amicable 
relations  were  established  with  the  Chilkat 
and  the  Chilcoot  Indians  who  controlled  the 
Chilkoot  Pass.  This  pass  was  crossed  and 
then  they  packed  their  stufif  to  Lake  Linde- 
man — the  fountain  head  of  the  Yukon.  On 
July  4th  the  party,  now  increased  to  twenty- 
five  men  and  having  built  boats,  started  down 
the  then  mysterious  stream,  the  Yukon.  They 
went  as  far  as  Teslin  Lake  and  then  they 
turned  back  after  having  found  but  a  little 
gold  on  the  river  bars,  equal  to  a  yield  of  $2.50 
per  day. 

"Dr.  Arthur  Krause,  a  German  scientist 
from  Berlin,  made  an  exploration  of  the  Chil- 
kat and  Chilkoot  passes  in  1881,  reaching 
Lake  Lindeman  and  the  sources  of  the  To- 
hi-ni  River  respectively. 

"In  1883  Lieut.  Schatka  of  the  U.  S. 
Surveying  Corps  crossed  the  Chilkoot  Pass, 
and  descended  the  Lewis-Yukon  River  to  the 
sea,  a  distance  of  about  two  thousand  miles. 


250  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

''In  1886  coarse  gold  was  found  on  Forty 
Mile  Creek — a  good  distance  below  the  now 
modern  city  of  Dawson.  This  caused  a  gold 
rush,  and  a  miner  named  Williams  in  bring- 
ing out  the  news  was  frozen  to  death  on  the 
Chilkoot  Pass  in  January  of  1887.  At  this 
time  the  miners  were  not  content  with  less 
than  a  return  in  gold  of  the  value  of  $14.00  a 
day.  The  estimated  number  of  all  the  miners 
in  the  Upper  Yukon  Country  in  1887  was  not 
over  two  hundred  and  fifty." 

In  i887-'88  William  Ogilvie,  D.  L.  S.,  an- 
other famous  Canadian  explorer,  crossed  the 
Chilkoot  Pass  with  a  heavy  outfit,  among 
which  were  two  Peterboro  canoes,  each  one 
strong  enough  to  hold  two  men  and  1400 
pounds  of  freight.  These  boats  made  1700 
landings  and  did  about  2500  miles  of  work 
on  Lewis  River,  Porcupine  River,  Bell's 
River,  Poplar  River,  Pells  River  and  thence 
up  the  great  Mackenzie  River — a  distance  of 
1400  miles.  After  all  of  this,  they  were  left 
at  Fort  Chipewyan  in  a  fairly  good  condi- 
tion, "and,"  says  Ogilvie,  "with  a  little  paint- 
ing they  would  go  through  the  same  ordeal 
again." 

This  intrepid  explorer  built  another  boat,  a 
large  one,  and  with  the  three  boats  he  started 


A  NEW  TERRITORY  251 

down  the  Yukon  to  go  as  far  as  the  interna- 
tional boundary  line — about  700  miles.  He 
found  the  much-dreaded  White  Horse  Pass 
unsafe  to  run  with  the  big  boats.  He  sent  two 
men  through  the  canyon  in  one  of  the  canoes 
to  await  the  arrival  of  one  boat  and  to  be 
ready  to  pick  up  the  men  in  case  of  an  acci- 
dent. Every  man  in  the  party  was  supplied 
with  a  life  preserver,  so  that  if  a  casualty  had 
occurred  they  all  would  have  floated.  Those 
in  the  canoe  got  through,  but  would  not  try  it 
again.  The  passage  through  the  canyon  was 
made  in  three  minutes,  or  at  the  rate  of  twelve 
and  one-half  miles  an  hour. 

There's  a  rock  in  the  middle  of  the  channel 
near  the  upper  end  of  the  carry,  the  one  that 
makes  the  passage  so  difficult.  In  low  water 
this  rock  barely  shows  itself  above  the  sur- 
face. The  distance  from  the  head  to  the  foot 
of  the  canyon  is  five-eighths  of  a  mile,  with  a 
basin  about  midway  in  it  of  150  yards  in  di- 
ameter. It  is  circular  in  form,  with  steep 
sides  about  100  feet  high.  The  lower  part  of 
the  canyon  is  much  rougher  to  run  through 
than  the  upper. 

"The  White  Horse  Rapids  proper  are  only 
about  three-eighths  of  a  mile  long,  and  are 
the  most  dangerous  rapids  of  the  whole  river. 


252  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

At  the  foot  of  the  channel  it  is  only  thirty 
yards  wide,  and  here  there  is  a  sudden  drop 
and  the  water  rushes  through  at  a  tremendous 
rate,  leaping  and  seathing  like  a  cataract. 
The  miners  have  constructed  a  portage  road 
on  the  west  side  and  put  down  roUways  in 
some  places  on  which  to  shove  their  boats  over, 
and  they  have  also  made  some  windlasses  to 
haul  their  boats  up  hill,  at  the  foot  of  the 
canyon. 

''The  next  great  obstruction  in  the  river  is 
the  Five  Finger  Rapids.  These  are  made  by 
several  islands  standing  in  the  channel  and 
backing  up  the  water  so  as  to  raise  it  about  a 
foot,  causing  a  swell  below.  For  two  miles 
the  rapids  are  very  swift,  but  nowadays  steam- 
ers 'buck'  these  rapids  and  with  the  help  of  a 
cable  they  do  fairly  well." 

All  of  the  above  is  quoted  from  Prof. 
Ogilvie's  Report  of  his  Surveys  in  i887-'88. 
In  the  same  year  Dr.  G.  M.  Dawson  made 
a  journey  from  the  Stikine  River,  in  British 
Columbia,  to  the  Yukon,  following  the  Liard, 
Frances,  and  Finlayson  rivers. 

In  the  early  winter  of  1893,  Warburton 
Pike  crossed  from  the  Liard  River  to  the 
Pelly  Lakes  by  way  of  Frances  Lake  and 
Ptarmigan  Creek.     When  the  spring  opened 


A  NEW  TERRITORY  253 

he  descended  the  Pelly  and  Yukon  rivers  all 
the  way  to  Behring  Sea.  Warburton  Pike 
started  in  on  his  long  journey  from  Lac  La 
Hache — "the  lake  of  the  axe."  This  lake  is 
about  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  Ash- 
croft  on  the  C.  P.  R.  R.  He  was  alone  and 
his  pack  contained  fifty  pounds  of  flour,  a  slab 
of  bacon,  some  matches,  candles,  salt,  cart- 
ridges, clothes,  shoes,  etc.,  and  this  with  his 
axe  and  rifle  enabled  him  to  spend  a  whole 
year  in  making  this  remarkable  trip  of  over 
two  thousand  miles. 

The  year  i897-'98  saw  a  wonderful  hegira 
of  excited  men  and  some  women  all  rushing 
pell-mell  to  the  Klondike  gold  fields.  Of  the 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  people  who  made 
the  trip  or  attempted  to  make  it,  thousands 
died.  A  host  of  men  undertook  to  reach  the 
fabled  country  by  way  of  the  Mackenzie  River 
Valley.  We  quote  now  from  Prof.  Joseph 
Keele: 

"Of  the  latter,  was  a  party  starting  from 
Fort  Norman  on  the  Mackenzie  River  in  the 
month  of  November,  1897.  Hauling  their 
outfits  on  sleds  under  the  guidance  of  one  In- 
dian, they  followed  an  Indian  trail  to  the 
Gravel  River  and  went  up  the  Twitya  River 
to  the  divide.     They  then  followed  one  of  the 


254  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

branches  of  the  Hess  River,  reaching  boating 
water  on  this  stream  in  April,  1898,  and  de- 
scended the  Hess  and  Stewart  rivers  to  the 
Yukon,  thus  taking  six  months  in  all  on  the 
trip." 

The  dreadful  hardships  of  such  a  journey 
can  be  imagined  by  any  one  who  will  think 
for  a  few  minutes  of  the  extremities  they  must 
have  been  put  to  in  getting  enough  food  to 
satisfy  their  wants  on  a  trip  lasting  half  a  year 
and  most  of  it  in  the  winter  months,  when  the 
thermometer  frequently  goes  to  60  degrees 
below  zero. 

Then  think  of  the  swarms  of  men  that  per- 
ished from  overwork  and  exposure  in  climb- 
ing the  Chilkoot  and  Chilkat  passes.  Men 
who  perhaps  had  never  done  any  real  hard 
work  in  their  lives  were  suddenly  called  upon 
to  bear  the  burden  of  a  pack  weighing  from 
sixty  to  eighty  pounds  or  more,  a  distance  of 
eighteen  miles  from  Skagway  (the  coast)  to 
Chilkoot  Summit,  and  then  twenty-two  miles 
to  Lake  Lindeman.  This  they  had  to  do  be- 
fore they  could  float  their  supplies  and  them- 
selves, by  boat  or  canoe,  down  the  stream,  and 
through  the  dreaded  White  Horse  Rapids. 
When  once  in  the  broad  Yukon  it  was  easy 
going   to   the   Klondike.     Is   it  not   a  won- 


A  NEW  TERRITORY  255 

der  that  any  of  these  men  ever  pulled  through? 

Think  of  the  fatal  snow-slide  on  Chilkoot 
Mountain  when  the  men  who  were  crowding 
up  to  the  top — in  spite  of  the  warnings  given 
them  that  the  snow  was  not  safe — were  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye  carried  down  by  an  ava- 
lanche, and  sixty-nine  men  speedily  found 
a  grave  amid  the  sliding,  rushing,  deadly 
snow. 

Think  also  of  the  men  who  lost  all,  who 
pawned  their  spare  clothes  to  buy  food,  who 
searched  for  gold  and  found  it  not,  who 
couldn't  get  work  because  they  had  no  trade 
and  were  physically  unfit  for  the  hard  work 
of  digging  gold  in  the  mines. 

Many  blew  out  their  brains,  more  died  of 
starvation,  others  went  insane.  For  every 
eighteen  men  who  succeeded,  eighty-two  other 
men  either  fell  by  the  wayside,  or  returned 
home  in  a  crippled  condition,  financially  as 
well  as  physically. 

It  is  true  that  since  then  an  enormous  out- 
put of  gold  has  been  yearly  shipped  away — as 
much  as  $25,000,000  in  one  year,  but  this  huge 
sum  has  been  made  mostly  by  wealthy  com- 
panies operating  the  mines  under  skillful  man- 
agement and  with  up-to-date  machinery.  The 
Rothschilds  and  the  Guggenheims,  and  others 


2^6  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

of  their  class,  have  been  the  men  to  gather  in 
the  rich  deposits  of  gold.  The  poor  man  only 
occasionally  made  a  hit.  The  rich  companies 
took  few  risks;  they  knew  what  they  were 
about;  they  had  the  money,  the  machinery  and 
the  men  to  get  the  most  of  the  mineral  wealth 
out  with  the  least  possible  cost. 

In  a  little  less  than  two  years  the  city  of 
Dawson  became  one  of  the  most  talked-of  cit- 
ies of  the  world.  In  this  young  city  there 
were  "revels  by  day  and  revels  by  night." 
There  was  gambling  that  in  its  fury  of  excite- 
ment eclipsed  Monte  Carlo  itself.  The  dance 
halls  were  dens  of  vice  that  in  point  of  ex- 
travagance, brutality,  and  indecency,  the 
Bowery  in  New  York  in  the  palmiest  days 
could  never  equal.  The  city  was  overrun  by 
the  painted  women  who  usually  follow  the  vi- 
cissitudes of  gold-mining  rushes. 

Thus  it  was  that  Dawson  became  famous. 
Thus  it  was  that  the  people  of  the  outside 
world  came  to  know  that  there  is  a  wonderful 
Yukon  River  two  thousand  miles  long  that 
flows  north,  then  northwest,  and  finally  south, 
and  empties  into  Behring  Sea.  They  learned 
that  it  drains  a  great  country  rich  in  minerals 
of  nearly  every  kind — a  territory  studded  with 
high  snow-capped  mountains  and  icy  glaciers, 


A  NEW  TERRITORY  257 

with  wide  rivers  whose  beds  are  paved  with 
stones  of  volcanic  origin;  that  the  volcanic 
pumice-sands  stretch  in  certain  districts  for 
hundreds  of  miles.  They  learned  that  it  is 
a  country  abounding  in  big  game;  that  the 
streams  are  alive  with  fish  (particularly  the 
grayling)  ;  that  there  are  birds  of  many  kinds, 
some  of  them  excellent  game  birds;  that  the 
soil  is  rich,  and  consequently  there  is  a  rich 
vegetation  in  several  districts.  They  learned 
that  this  country  is  called  "The  Yukon  Terri- 
tory," and  that  it  is  not  in  Alaska,  but  belongs 
to  Canada  and  not  to  the  United  States.  It 
may  be  truly  said  that,  as  far  as  the  outside 
world  knows,  this  territory  was  only  discov- 
ered in  1898 — or  fifteen  years  ago. 

On  the  steamer  from  Vancouver  to  Skag- 
way,  in  the  long  interior  waterway  of  one 
thousand  miles,  were  many  passengers  who 
had  recently  arrived  from  Europe.  Two  of 
them  were  men  famous  in  the  development  of 
the  Yukon  Territory.  Their  stories  of  the 
''early  days"  as  narrated  by  them  from  day  to 
day  were  full  of  unique  experiences,  and  we 
sat  night  after  night  spell-bound  listening  to 
them. 

No  one  can  keep  from  admiring  the  pluck, 
persistence,  and  heroism  of  the  "iVrgonauts 


258  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

of  the  Upper  Yukon."  Those  whom  Fortune 
— the  fickle  goddess — smiled  upon,  were  well 
remembered  by  these  men,  while  those  whom 
she  frowned  upon  were  soon  forgotten. 

The  world  always  loves  and  extols  a  win- 
ner, but  has  no  time  for  a  loser.  Excuses  do 
not  help — it  matters  not  how  good  they  are. 
The  world  is  rushing  on,  and  cannot  stop  to 
listen  to  apologizers. 

Since  the  experiences  of  1849  in  California, 
nothing  has  approached  the  almost  fabled  his- 
tory of  the  Yukon,  and  the  more  it  is  consid- 
ered, the  more  wonderful  it  becomes.  In  the 
years  to  come  the  legends  of  the  sufferings  and 
privations  of  the  first  comers,  their  successes 
and  failures,  will  be  featured  in  poetry,  in 
fiction,  and  in  history,  and  the  time  is  even  now 
ripe  for  such  a  literary  awakening. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THREE  NOTABLE  MEN 

"He  was  famous,  Sir,  in  his  profession,  and  it  was  his 
great  right  to  be  so." 

IN  1887,  ten  years  before  the  beginning  of 
the  Klondike  gold  rush  in  the  Yukon,  the 
Canadian  Government  appointed  Dr.  George 
M.  Dawson  as  head  of  an  exploiting  and  sur- 
veying expedition  called  the  Yukon  Expedi- 
tion. 

Dr.  Dawson  was  assisted  by  R.  G.  McCon- 
nell  and  J.  McEvoy,  of  the  Geological  Sur- 
vey, while  W.  Ogilvie  "was  entrusted  with  the 
conduct  of  instrumental  measurement  and  the 
astronomical  work  in  connection  with  the 
determination  of  the  position  of  the  141st 
meridian." 

This  expedition  was  undertaken  for  the  pur- 
pose of  gaining  information  of  the  vast  and 
hitherto  almost  unknown  tract  of  country 
which  forms  the  extreme  northwesterly  por- 
tion of  the  Northwest  Territory.  This  tract 
is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Arctic  Ocean, 


26o  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

on  the  south  by  British  Columbia,  on  the  west 
by  the  eastern  line  of  Alaska,  and  on  the  east 
by  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  136th 
meridian.  It  has  a  total  area  of  192,000 
square  miles,  of  which  150,768  square  miles 
are  included  in  the  watershed  of  the  Yukon 
River,  a  distance  nearly  equal  to  the  whole 
of  France  or  three  times  that  of  the  New  Eng- 
land states. 

It  will  be  realized  by  all  that  for  such  a 
stupendous  task  the  men  selected  must  have 
had  great  physical  strength,  endurance,  pluck, 
perseverance,  good  judgment,  and  the  best  sci- 
entific knowledge. 

As  I  have  already  made  mention  of  Dr. 
Dawson,  I  now  want  to  write  a  few  lines  about 
Mr.  Ogilvie  and  his  work. 

William  Ogilvie 

In  an  article  in  the  Canadian  Courier, 
Henry  J.  Woodside  fittingly  calls  William 
Ogilvie  "the  Great  Pathfinder."     He  says: 

"This  great  man  was  first  discovered  by  Sir 
John  A.  Macdonald,  the  Premier  of  Canada 
for  many  years,  who  sent  him  on  various  im- 
portant missions  affecting  Provincial  and  Do- 
minion boundary  lines,  and  this  in  time  led  up 


THREE  NOTABLE  MEN       261 

to  the  Yukon  Expedition  named  above.  It 
was  he  who  completed  the  determination  of 
the  141st  meridian  which  established  the  boun- 
dary between  Alaska  and  Canada  and  which 
was  accepted  by  the  United  States  for  twenty 
years. 

"By  reason  of  the  extensive  territory  he  had 
to  cover,  and  the  total  lack  of  transportation 
facilities,  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  most 
of  the  proper  but  weighty  instruments  for  as- 
tronomical observation,  but  his  tactful  adapta- 
tion of  local  aids  was  so  well  utilized  that  two 
clever  astronomers,  F.  A.  McDiamid  and  W. 
C.  Jaques,  who  made  observations  in  1907, 
twenty  years  afterwards,  showed  that  this  line 
was  only  a  few  hundred  feet  out.  Ogilvie  was 
compelled  to  do  some  of  his  fine  work  with  his 
small  instrument  clamped  on  a  tree  stump, 
clinging  to  a  slope,  which  persisted  in 
shifting  slightly  with  varying  temperatures. 
Many  of  the  observations  were  taken  at  night 
in  a  temperature  of  20  to  55  degrees  below 
zero,  when  after  hours  of  tense  and  motionless 
work,  alternately  watching  stars  chase  each 
other  across  the  hair  wires  of  his  telescope, 
and  the  flying  second  hands  of  his  chronome- 
ter, his  own  hands  were  usually  paralyzed  with 
cold.     He    had    only   one    chronometer    and 


262  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

there  were  five  ticks  to  each  second,  and  each 
tick  meant  a  difference  of  about  a  thousand 
feet.  With  his  crude  appliances  and  the  re- 
moteness from  telegraphic  connection  twenty- 
five  years  ago,  we  cannot  but  wonder  at  the 
accuracy  of  his  observations  and  deductions. 

"After  completing  his  work  on  the  17th  of 
March,  1888,  he  left  by  snowshoe,  and  later 
by  canoe,  on  a  great  trip  of  over  2,500  miles 
down  the  Yukon,  across  the  divide  to  the 
Mackenzie  River  basin,  up  the  Mackenzie  to 
Edmonton,  Saskatchewan,  and  later  to  Win- 
nipeg and  Ottawa.  The  most  of  this  journey 
in  the  great  primeval  land  was  through  a  sec- 
tion unexplored  and  uninhabited. 

"Once  more  he  was  sent  to  the  Yukon  in 
1895  to  prolong  his  international  line.  He 
remained  there  until  1897.  Then  the  gold 
on  Bonanza  Creek  was  discovered,  and  thou- 
sands— some  say  forty  thousand — poured  into 
this  section  as  rapidly  as  the  natural  difficul- 
ties of  the  trip  would  permit. 

"The  Northwest  Mounted  Police  at  that 
time  were  seventy  miles  away  and  few  in  num- 
ber. Ogilvie  had  gone  up  to  the  Dawson 
townsite  (now  the  capital  of  the  territory)  to 
lay  it  out.  Numerous  quarrels  over  claims 
broke  out  among  the  miners,  bloodshed  was  in 


KiBBEE  b    i.NUlA.N     HuMKESb    IN     Hek    i^Abl.N 


THREE  NOTABLE  MEN        263 

sight,  chaos  reigned,  and  claim-jumping  was 
much  in  fashion.  A  petition  signed  by  one 
hundred  and  thirty  men  was  sent  to  Ogilvie 
asking  him  to  survey  the  Bonanza  Creek. 
This  he  did  in  mid-winter  when  the  ther- 
mometer was  practically  useless,  the  tempera- 
ture being  so  low. 

*'For  this  valuable  and  risky  work  he  made 
no  charge  either  directly  or  indirectly.  He 
was  warned  that  he  might  be  shot  if  he  inter- 
fered with  the  claim  jumpers,  but  he  was  a 
fearless  man  and  went  on  with  his  work  as 
if  it  was  an  every-day  pastime. 

"The  quarreling  men  became  convinced  of 
his  honesty  and  efficiency  and  his  decisions 
were  accepted  without  demur.  There  were 
no  homicides,  although  in  one  case  he  sur- 
veyed a  temporary  host  off  his  jumped  claim. 

"He  could  have  made  a  fortune  if  he  had  so 
desired,  as  he  had  a  host  of  chances  to  get  the 
very  cream  of  the  golden  field,  but  he  would 
neither  profit  himself  by  the  expert  knowl- 
edge that  he  obtained  through  his  work,  nor 
give  his  friends  a  single  tip  which  might  have 
made  them  rich. 

"What  wonder  when  a  Governor — or  chief- 
commissioner,  as  the  executive  was  titled — 
was  needed  in  the  turbulent  times  of  1898,  that 


264  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

this  brave  and  honest  man  was  selected  to  fill 
this  high  position? 

"Please  imagine,  if  you  can,  what  a  bub- 
bling, boiling  cauldron  of  chaotic  conditions 
would  and  did  face  him  when  he  took  posses- 
sion of  the  governor's  seat.  He  held  the  ex- 
alted position  for  three  years  and  never  did  a 
Canadian  administration  have  a  more  perplex- 
ing, strenuous,  and  trying  position  than  fell  to 
the  lot  of  William  Ogilvie.  It  goes  without 
saying  that  under  his  sway  chaos  gave  way  to 
order,  fear  to  a  sense  of  security,  law  and  order 
were  enforced,  and  honesty  of  administration 
in  all  the  departments  of  the  government  was 
insisted  upon.  During  his  time  of  office  Daw- 
son, the  village,  grew  to  be  a  famous  city. 
The  chaff  was  separated  from  the  wheat;  the 
evil  ones,  both  male  and  female,  who  always 
follow  in  the  train  of  a  gold-mining  rush,  were 
either  kept  under  close  surveillance  or  driven 
out  of  the  territory  altogether. 

"All  of  this  work  needed  and  demanded  the 
powerful  help  of  the  famous  Northwest 
Mounted  Police,  numbering  at  that  time  in 
the  Yukon  one  hundred  men. 

"It  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  wake  of 
the  25,000  or  more  gold  hunters  in  and  around 
Dawson — men  who  came  from  all  over  the 


THREE  NOTABLE  MEN        265 

world — there  was  a  small  army  of  gamblers, 
dancers,  prostitutes,  blacklegs,  and  crooks  of 
all  types  and  kinds,  chafing  at  the  enac- 
tions made  necessary  to  guarantee  law  and 
order. 

"Yet  under  Ogilvie's  administration  a  man's 
life  was  as  safe  and  a  woman's  person  was  as 
secure  day  or  night  as  in  any  city  of  the 
continent. 

"Ogilvie  resigned  in  1901.  About  a  year 
ago,  while  at  La  Pass  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Saskatchewan,  he  suffered  from  what  he  be- 
lieved to  be  ptomaine  poisoning.  He  re- 
turned to  Ottawa  and  there  submitted  to  an 
operation.  He  resumed  his  work,  but  in  the 
Winnipeg  River  district  he  was  again  taken 
ill  and  was  removed  to  Winnipeg.  It  was  too 
late^  however.  He  died  on  the  12th  of  No- 
vember, 191 2." 

A  grand  range  of  mountains  in  the  Yukon 
is  named  after  him,  and  many  trails  also, 
which  will  keep  his  name  and  memory  fresh 
for  ages  to  come. 

This  distinguished  man  left  no  estate  of 
moment.  His  faithful  wife  is  still  living.  I 
feel  sure  that  the  Canadian  Government,  when 
this  condition  is  explained,  will  see  that  a 
modest  pension  is  bestowed  upon  Mrs.  Ogilvie, 


266  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

and  that  a  suitable  monument  is  erected  in 
Ottawa  to  perpetuate  his  memory. 

Frank  Kibbee 

In  my  hunting  excursion  to  northern  British 
Columbia  in  1909,  our  head  guide  was  a  man 
named  Frank  Kibbee.  He  was  born  in  Mon- 
tana forty-seven  years  ago.  He  early  took  to 
trapping — his  father  was  a  trapper  before  him 
— and  he  soon  learned  to  shoot  well  and  to 
ride  a  horse  fearlessly. 

Leaving  his  home  he  drifted  to  Bear  Lake, 
upper  British  Columbia,  where  he  started 
trapping.  As  Bear  Lake  is  but  twenty-two 
miles  across  the  mountains  from  Barkerville 
— the  largest  gold-mining  field  in  the  Prov- 
ince— his  yearly  catch  of  fur  always  brought 
him  good  prices.  Besides  this  he  usually  has 
one  or  more  hunting  parties  each  season  to 
look  after,  so  that  he  is  prospering  fairly  well. 

Since  I  last  saw  him  he  had  made  up  his 
mind  that  he  must  get  a  wife  and,  as  women 
are  very  scarce  in  that  section,  it  was  hard  to 
find  one.  Hearing  that  advertising  when 
"properly"  handled  always  brings  results,  he 
thought  he  would  try  it.  Kibbee  is  a  man  with 
a  good  bit  of  humor,  and  he  has  an  odd  way 
of  saying  things.     He  drafted  his  ^'ad"  in  his 


THREE  NOTABLE  MEN        267 

own  style  and  sent  it  out  to  the  nearest  local 
paper  in  Ashcroft — a  town  on  the  C.  P.  R.  R. 
— over  three  hundred  miles  from  Bear  Lake. 
The  "ad"  was  so  earnestly  and  oddly  written 
that  it  attracted  the  attention  of  some  of  the 
big  magazines,  who  voluntarily  published  it 
for  the  sake  of  its  humor.  In  response  to  the 
"ad"  he  is  said  to  have  received  in  all  sixty- 
five  answers,  out  of  which  he  picked  two  that 
he  "was  willin'  to  pay  the  freight  on,"  to  use 
his  own  words,  and  in  the  course  of  time  one 
of  these  two  was  finally  accepted.  She  is  an 
English  woman,  and  came  a  distance  of  sev- 
eral thousand  miles  to  meet  him. 

According  to  the  testimony  of  all  those  in 
Barkerville  who  have  seen  her,  she  is  a  com- 
plete success  as  a  wife,  and  she  is  very  much 
in  love  with  her  husband,  as  he  is  with 
her. 

Kibbee,  to  my  mind,  and  from  my  personal 
knowledge  of  him,  is  a  wonder  of  strength,  en- 
durance, agility,  and  nerve,  as  most  of  the  men 
who  "make  good"  in  these  far  northern  sec- 
tions are. 

The  following  letter  written  to  me  by  Mr. 
F.  J.  Tregillus,  an  English  mining  engineer, 
under  date  of  December  26,  191 2,  will  give 
a  better  illustration  of  what  privations  and 


268  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

hardships  the  men  of  the  northwest  can  en- 
dure than  anything  I  can  write : 

"There  is  a  wagon  road  now  to  within  seven 
miles  of  Bear  Lake  which  will  be  completed 
to  that  point  next  season.  I  took  my  wife  and 
youngsters  there  last  September  and  spent 
three  very  pleasant  days  with  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Kibbee.  She  is  a  countrywoman  of  yours 
(and  mine)  and  although  she  was  scarcely  ever 
outside  of  a  city,  she  is  very  much  at  home  at 
Bear  Lake  and  makes  an  admirable  wife. 
Another  tribute  to  'the  power  of  the  Press.' 

"Kibbee  was  very  anxious  for  us  to  stay 
a  few  days  longer,  as  he  had  a  bear  trap  set 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  house,  down 
by  the  river,  and  he  wanted  the  women  and 
'kids'  to  see  a  grizzly  tied  up  alive.  I  was 
to  photograph  all  hands — and  the  bear — 
whilst  Kibbee  covered  the  'works'  with  his 
rifle. 

"About  a  week  after  we  left  the  trap  turned 
up  missing.  Kibbee  did  not  discover  this  for 
three  days,  but  as  soon  as  he  found  it  out,  he 
started  on  the  trail.  The  bear  had  been  hung 
up  several  times  by  the  log  or  'toggle'  attached 
to  the  trap,  but  had  chewed  himself  loose  each 
time,  so  when  Kibbee  came  up  with  him  he 


THREE  NOTABLE  MEN        269 

was  a  mad  bear  all  through,  and  had  only  a 
short  piece  of  'toggle'  left. 

"  'Twas  on  a  steep  side-hill  about  a  mile 
back  of  his  house, — the  bear  above  and  close 
to  the  trapper.  Kibbee  opened  fire  and  mor- 
tally wounded  him,  but  didn't  stop  him. 
They  had  an  awful  fight,  bare  hands  against 
claws  and  teeth;  finally  the  bear  walked  away 
and  died,  but  not  before  Kibbee  had  taken  an- 
other shot  (an  aimless  one)  at  him. 

"Considering  the  mauling  he'd  had,  that 
last  shot  was  a  rare  exhibition  of  grit.  Dur- 
ing the  scuffle,  Kibbee's  efiforts  were  mainly 
directed  toward  keeping  the  bear  (who  had 
him  down  in  the  first  round)  from  chewing 
his  throat,  so  his  hands  were  covered  with 
tooth  marks  that  entirely  went  through  in  a 
number  of  places;  both  his  arms,  especially 
the  left,  were  badly  mutilated,  but  his  head 
got  the  worst  punishment.  The  right  half  of 
his  face,  including  the  teeth,  was  torn  away 
and  the  scalp  was  fearfully  lacerated. 

"Kibbee  walked  home  and  at  once  a  man  was 
sent  from  a  surveying  party  camped  on  the 
beach  for  the  doctor,  twenty-two  miles  away, 
who  immediately  set  out  on  receipt  of  the 
news.  When  the  doctor  arrived — at  4.30 
A.  M. — Kibbee  could  not  articulate  on  account 


270  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

of  his  cheek  being  open.  As  soon  as  this  was 
stitched  up,  he  commenced  telling  the  doctor 
how  it  all  happened  and  described  the  fight 
'by  rounds'  in  such  an  original  manner  that  he 
kept  the  doctor  laughing  all  the  time  he  was 
working  on  him,  and  that  was  the  best  part 
of  a  day.  The  doctor  had  grave  doubts  as  to 
his  recovery  during  the  first  week,  as  he  had  a 
bad  clout  in  the  ribs,  probably  from  the  bear 
trap,  which  caused  much  pain,  besides  the 
passing  and  bringing  up  of  considerable  blood 
— also  from  the  fear  of  blood  poisoning. 
However,  five  weeks  later  he  was  in  here  to 
get  some  pieces  of  bone  taken  out  of  his  jaw. 
He  had  already  been  up  to  Sandy  Lake  with 
a  load  of  grub,  etc.,  but  couldn't  rest  for  the 
pain  in  his  face.  He  wasn't  fit  to  travel,  but 
having  made  nothing  all  summer  and  gone 
into  debt  a  bit,  he  was  very  keen  to  make  a 
big  catch  of  furs. 

"On  account  of  his  condition  he  got  a  part- 
ner to  trap  with  him  for  the  winter,  and  a 
woman  from  here  to  stay  with  his  wife  at  Bear 
Lake,  as  he  would  be  most  of  the  time  away. 

"They  got  their  last  load  to  Sandy  Lake  on 
the  seventeenth  of  November,  and  started  to 
work  next  day.  On  the  twenty-second  Kibbee 
was  returning  from  a  short  five-mile  trapping 


Ui 


li,.-idf 


THREE  NOTABLE  MEN        271 

line,  and  was  crossing  a  beaver  pond,  about 
a  mile  from  camp.  The  pond  was  frozen, 
but  the  water  had  receded  and  Kibbee  went 
through.  His  revolver,  which  was  tied  to  his 
belt  without  a  holster,  was  discharged  into  his 
leg.  The  string  must  have  got  over  the  trig- 
ger— 'tis  a  self-cocker. 

"When  his  partner  got  home  that  night 
from  a  long  trapping  line  to  Little  Lake,  he 
found  Kibbee  in  his  bunk  (he  had  crawled 
home)  with  a  badly  swollen  and  discolored 
knee  and  in  great  pain.  Medical  aid  being 
out  of  the  question,  they  decided  to  operate 
at  once  with  a  jack-knife,  Kibbee  making  the 
first  part  of  the  incision  over  the  spot  where 
he  thought  the  bullet  lay.  Then  his  partner 
dug  down,  located  the  lead,  loosened  it,  and 
hooked  it  out  with  a  piece  of  rusty  wire. 
'Twas  a  .38  special  Smith  &  Wesson  bullet. 
One  side  of  the  missile  was  shorn  flat  from 
having  slid  along  the  bone.  His  partner  then 
left  him  for  two  days,  bringing  back  three 
other  trappers  to  move  Kibbee  to  Bear  Lake. 
It  took  the  four  of  them  five  days  to  make  the 
trip — partly  on  a  stretcher,  partly  on  a  sleigh, 
and  down  Bear  Lake  by  canoe.  You  can 
imagine  what  Kibbee  sutlered,  as  they  had  to 
camp  out  three  nights,  and  to  make  things 


272  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

worse    they   broke    through    the    ice   several 
times. 

"The  doctor  went  out  from  here  as  soon  as 
we  heard  about  it.  He  thinks  Kibbee  will  get 
the  use  of  his  leg  again,  but  it  may  not  be  for 
several  months.  We  intend  moving  him  into 
Barkerville  in  a  day  or  so,  as  we  think  his 
health  and  spirits  will  recover  more  quickly 
with  more  cheerful  surroundings." 

Following  this  letter  came  one  from  Mrs. 
Kibbee  describing  in  detail  her  husband's  suf- 
ferings and  his  cheerfulness,  and  another  one 
still  later  from  a  miner  stating  that  the  man 
who  was  so  nearly  torn  to  pieces  was  mending 
nicely  and  would  soon  be  at  work  again.  The 
nerve,  endurance,  and  patience  of  such  men 
as  Kibbee  make  us  exclaim,  "Heavens,  what 
a  man  is  there!" 

Bishop  Bompas 

For  many  years  past  I  had  read  much  about 
a  famous  Episcopal  Bishop  who  ministered 
to  the  people  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  and 
whose  domain  of  influence,  exercised  over  both 
white  men  and  red  men,  extended  from  the 
Arctic  Circle  to  the  basin  of  the  great  Mac- 
kenzie River  and  of  the  Yukon  as  well. 


THREE  NOTABLE  MEN        273 

Our  Chief  was  very  proud  of  the  fact  that 
he  not  only  had  been  well  acquainted  with 
this  great  man,  but  on  several  occasions  when 
he  was  on  the  mounted  police  force  had  been 
"honored"  by  the  Bishop's  enlisting  his  aid 
in  rescuing  destitute  families,  in  keeping  sur- 
veillance over  unruly  districts,  and  in  keeping 
"tab"  upon  certain  people  whom  he  was 
using  his  best  endeavors  to  lead  to  a  better 
life. 

There  were  many  anecdotes  about  him  and 
his  almost  superhuman  work,  for  his  flock 
was  scattered  over  a  country  a  million  square 
miles  in  extent.  "He  came  from  England  as 
a  young  Cockney  curate  in  1865,  and  as  the 
wild  geese  wxre  flying  southward  he  was  pass- 
ing to  the  north  to  enter  upon  a  work  which 
was  finished  only  by  his  death  in  1906 — forty 
years  of  earnest,  strenuous,  efficient,  kindly, 
and  unselfish  work." 

Perhaps  3^ou  yourself  may  have  heard  of 
him;  his  name  was  Bishop  Bompas.  Let  us 
listen  to  Agnes  Dean  Cameron's  tribute  to  this 
grand  man. 

In  her  brave  journey  from  the  Athabasca 
River  down  to  the  delta  of  the  Mackenzie 
River,  she  came  in  frequent  touch  with  a  large 
portion  of  the  people  he  ministered  to,  and 


274  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

she  was  able  to  gather  incidents  in  his  life 
work  at  first  hand: 

"We  are  told  that  Bishop  Bompas's  father 
was  Dickens's  prototype  for  Sergeant  Buzfuz. 
A  new  vista  would  open  up  to  the  counsel  for 
Mrs.  Burdell  could  he  turn  from  his  chops 
and  tomato  sauce  to  follow  the  forty  years' 
wandering  in  the  wilderness  of  this  splendid 
man  of  God,  who  succeeded,  if  ever  man  suc- 
ceeds, in  following  Paul's  advice  of  keeping 
his  body  under.  Bishop  Bompas  was  one  of 
the  greatest  linguists  the  mother  country  ever 
produced.  Steeped  in  Hebrew  and  the  clas- 
sics when  he  entered  the  northland,  he  imme- 
diately set  himself  to  studying  the  various  na- 
tive languages,  becoming  thoroughly  master 
of  the  Slavi,  Beaver,  Dog-Rib,  and  Tukudk 
dialects. 

^When  Mrs.  Bompas  sent  him  a  Syriac  tes- 
tament and  lexicon,  he  threw  himself  with 
characteristic  energy  into  the  study  of  that 
tongue.  There  is  something  in  the  picture  of 
this  devoted  man  writing  Gospels  in  Slavi, 
Primers  in  Dog-Rib,  and  a  Prayer  Book  in 
Chipewyan,  which  brings  to  mind  the  figure 
of  Caxton  bending  his  silvered  head  over  the 
blocks  of  the  first  printing  press  in  the  old 
almonry  so  many  years  before.     What  were 


THREE  NOTABLE  MEN        275 

the  'libraries'  in  which  this  Arctic  Apostle  did 
his  work?  The  floor  of  a  scow  on  the  Peace 
River;  a  hole  in  the  snow;  a  fetid  corner  of 
an  Eskimo  hut.  His  bishop's  palace  when  he 
was  not  afloat  consisted  of  a  bare  room  twelve 
feet  by  eight,  in  which  he  studied,  cooked, 
slept,  and  taught  the  Indians. 

"They  tell  you  stories  up  here  of  seeing  the 
good  Bishop  come  back  from  a  distant  journey 
to  some  isolated  tribe  followed  at  heel  by  a 
dozen  little  Indian  babies,  his  disciples  for  the 
days  to  come. 

''There  is  one  tale  of  this  man  which  only 
those  can  appreciate  who  travel  his  trail.  An 
Indian  lad  confides  to  us : 

"  'Yes,  my  name  is  William  Carpenter — 
Bishop  Bompas  gave  me  my  name;  he  was  a 
good  man.  He  wouldn't  hurt  anybody.  He 
never  hit  a  dog — he  wouldn't  kill  a  mosquito; 
he  had  not  much  hair  on  his  head,  and  when  it 
was  Meetsu,  when  the  Bishop  eat  his  fish,  he 
shoo  the  mosquito  away  and  he  say:  "Room 
for  you,  my  little  friend,  and  room  for  me,  but 
this  is  not  your  place.     Go!"' 

"Entering  the  little  church  at  Fort  Simpson, 
we  see  the  neat  font  sent  here  by  Mrs.  Bom- 
pas, 'In  dear  memory  of  Lucy  May  Owlndia, 
baptised  in  this  church  January,  1879.'    Owin- 


276  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

dia  was  one  of  the  many  red  waifs  that  the 
good  Bishop  and  Mrs.  Bompas  took  to  their 
big  hearts.  Her  story  is  a  sad  One.  Along 
the  beach  at  Simpson,  Friday,  an  Indian,  in 
a  burst  of  ungovernable  temper  murdered  his 
wife  and  fled,  leaving  their  one  baby  to  per- 
ish. It  was  not  until  the  next  day  that  the 
little  one  was  found,  unconscious  and  dying. 
The  Bishop  and  Mrs.  Bompas  took  the  child 
into  their  loving  care.  To  the  name  Owindia, 
which  means  'The  Weeping  One,'  was  added 
the  modern  Lucy  May,  and  the  little  girlie 
twined  herself  around  the  hearts  of  her  pro- 
tectors. When  the  time  seemed  ripe,  Owin- 
dia was  taken  back  to  England  to  school,  but 
the  wee,  red  plant  would  not  flourish  in  that 
soil — she  sickened  and  died.  Hence  the  me- 
morial and  inscription  we  read  this  July  day. 

"Much  history  of  militant  energy — much 
of  endurance  and  countless  chapters  of  be- 
nevolence did  the  good  Bishop  write  into  the 
history  before,  on  the  Yukon  side  in  1906, 
God's  finger  touched  him,  and  he  slept." 

This  good  man  was  doctor  and  surgeon  as 
well  as  bishop.  Old  David  Villeneure,  of 
Fort  Providence,  told  us  of  the  time  that  a 
fish-stage  fell  on  him,  and  seriously  crushed 
his  leg: 


THREE  NOTABLE  MEN        277 

"I  didn't  pay  no  notice  to  my  leg  until  it 
began  to  go  bad,  den  I  take  it  to  de  English 
Church  to  Bishop  Bompas.  He  tole  me  de 
leg  must  come  off  and  ax  me  to  get  a  letter 
from  de  priest  (I'm  Cat-o-lic,  me)  telling  it 
was  all  right  to  cut  him.  I  get  de  letter  and 
bring  my  leg  to  Bompas.  He  cut  'im  off  wid 
meat-saw.  No,  I  tak  not'in',  me.  I  chew 
tobacco  and  tak'  one  big  drink  of  Pain-killer. 
Yes,  it  hurt  w'en  he  strike  de  marrow." 

"Heavens,  didn't  you  faint  with  the  awful 
pain?" 

"What — faint — me?  No.  I  say,  get  me 
my  fire  bag — I  want  to  have  a  smoke." 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  above  narrative  that 
the  Bishop  was  careful  not  to  antagonize  the 
missionaries  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church,  as 
he  always  worked  in  harmony  with  them  as 
they  did  with  him. 

Around  White  Horse  the  store-keepers  and 
other  business  men  have  a  fund  of  stories  to 
tell  about  him.  When  his  race  was  about  run 
some  one  in  England  left  him  a  legacy  of 
170,000  pounds — nearly  a  million  dollars.  I 
am  told  that  he  expended  the  most  of  it  in 
bettering  the  condition  of  the  Indians.  After 
his  death,  when  his  will  was  opened,  he  had 
left  instructions  that  he  was  to  be  buried  in 


278  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

the  Indian  grave-yard  and  under  no  account 
should  his  body  be  sent  to  England. 

In  the  forty  years  of  his  ministrations  this 
great  man  made  more  trips  to  and  from  the 
Arctic  Circle  than  any  other  man  that  has  ever 
lived.  He  had  the  Indian's  instinct  for  travel 
— for  finding  his  own  way  all  alone  in  safety 
to  any  point  or  section  of  country  that  he 
wanted  to  reach.  It  goes  without  saying  that 
he  often  suffered  from  want  of  provisions  and 
prolonged  hunger,  that  his  resting  place  at 
night  was  frequently  in  a  snowdrift.  It  is 
said  that  several  times  he  had  to  eat  the  tops 
of  his  leather  boots  to  keep  from  starving. 
Yet  there  was  no  complaining;  he  was  cheer- 
ful at  all  times,  with  a  kind  word  and  a  happy 
smile  for  the  white  man,  the  Indian,  or  the 
Esquimaux. 

No  wonder  then  that  his  name  is  now  held 
in  high  honor  and  reverence  on  the  watersheds 
of  the  Mackenzie,  the  Peace,  the  Pelly,  the 
Macmillan,  the  Liard,  the  Red,  the  Porcu- 
pine, and  the  Yukon  rivers.  Had  he  been  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  faith  it  is  altogether  likely 
that  in  time  he  would  have  been  canonized  and 
known  as  the  "Martyr  of  the  Northwest 
Territory." 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THREE  NOTABLE  WOMEN 

"This  is  the  law  of  the  Yukon 

That  only  the  strong  shall  thrive, 
That  surely  the  weak  shall  perish 
And  only  the  fit  survive." 

IT  was  intensely  interesting  to  listen  to  the 
life  histories  of  the  men  of  the  Yukon,  to 
stories  of  their  ups  and  downs,  and  of  their 
fierce  struggles  to  succeed  against  the  unex- 
pected obstructions  that  are  so  often  met  with 
in  this  iar-ofl  Canadian  territory.  I  empha- 
size the  "Canadian  territory"  because  the  ma- 
jority of  the  people  of  the  United  States  think 
the  Yukon  Territory  is  a  part  of  Alaska.  It 
is  in  reality  a  great  wilderness  in  northwest 
Canada  through  which  flows  the  mighty  Yu- 
kon River.  Roughly  speaking,  the  upper  half 
of  the  river  flows  through  Yukon  and  the 
lower  half  Alaska.  The  boundary  line  is 
quite  close  to  the  mouth  of  the  White  River, 
which  flows  into  the  Yukon  several  hundred 
miles  below  Dawson. 

With  the  coming  in  of  November  each  year, 


28o  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

a  stranger  will  find  double  windows  on  what 
few  houses  there  are  in  White  Horse.  Then 
the  days  are  short  and  the  nights  are  long  and 
the  cold  may  be  severe.  Before  November 
there  is  a  genuine  hegira  of  men  and  women 
rushing  out  to  escape  being  ''frozen  in" — and 
this  is  so  particularly  from  Dawson.  The 
route  is  by  steamer  to  White  Horse,  where 
they  get  rail  transportation  to  Skagway,  and 
from  that  port  the  crowd  will  take  the  first 
steamer  either  to  Vancouver  in  Canada,  or  to 
Seattle  in  Washington.  When  the  river  is 
tightly  frozen  over,  the  men  who  are  left  in 
the  interior  have  practically  but  two  occupa- 
tions before  them — mining  and  trapping. 
It's  "Hobson's  choice"  with  them.  Either  oc- 
cupation means  exposure  to  an  extremely  low 
temperature,  with  high  winds,  at  times  deep 
snows,  and  frozen  ground.  In  either  of  these 
two  occupations  the  severe  climate  soon  weeds 
out  the  feeble  ones.  The  Yukon  is  no  place 
for  the  weakling.  The  man  with  timid  heart 
or  flabby  muscles  had  better  stay  at  home.  To 
survive  they  must  be 

"The  men  with  the  hearts  of  vikings,  and  the  simple  faith 
of  a  child, 
Desperate,  strong,  and  resistless,  unthrottled  by  fear  or 
defeat." 


THREE  NOTABLE  WOMEN    281 

So  it  has  come  to  pass  that  those  men  who  are 
left  are  either  giants  in  stature  and  physical 
strength,  or  lightly  built  men  with  nerve  and 
grit,  and  muscles  tough  enough  to  cope  with 
all  sorts  of  hard  work. 

While  this  is  true  of  the  men,  it  is  equally 
true  of  the  few  women  that  are  to  be  found 
in  this  territory.  It  is  said  that  of  every  one 
hundred  white  men  in  the  Yukon  but  ten  are 
married,  and  of  that  ten  but  two  are  married 
to  white  women.  The  story  I  am  about  to 
narrate  will  feature  two  white  women  and  one 
Indian  woman,  each  one  in  her  own  sphere 
being  a  heroine  of  the  far  northwest.  All  of 
them  are  so  highly  spoken  of,  and  thought  of, 
by  the  men  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  be 
acquainted  with  them,  that  they  are  almost 
worshiped.  Let  any  man,  white  or  red,  say 
ought  against  any  one  of  the  three,  and  he  will 
be  so  roughly  handled  by  his  fellows  that  he'll 
never  make  such  a  gross  blunder  again. 

The  White  Housewife 

A  portion  of  our  long  journey  covered  a 
distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  over 
a  good  trail,  which  reached  from  White  Horse 
to  the  head  of  a  large  lake  about  forty  miles 
long.     We  arrived  there  late  at  night  at  a  lit- 


282  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

tie  hamlet  lying  close  to  the  sandy  margin 
of  this  lake.  We  were  conducted  into  the 
cabin  of  our  head  guide,  whom  we  called  the 
Chief.  The  floor  was  covered  with  bear, 
caribou,  moose,  fox,  and  wolverine  skins,  and 
on  these  we  laid  our  sleeping  bags  and  soon 
were  in  the  land  of  Nod. 

In  the  morning  the  writer  was  awakened  by 
the  sweet  and  melodious  voice  of  a  woman 
who  was  talking  to  Gene,  our  cook.  Hastily 
dressing,  I  looked  into  the  kitchen  and  saw 
the  "lady  fair"  just  leaving  for  her  own  dom- 
icile, which  was  across  the  trail  from  ours. 
She  had  brought  a  basket  of  fresh  vegetables 
out  of  her  own  garden  for  our  delectation  and 
nourishment.  There  were  radishes,  lettuce, 
carrots,  turnips,  etc.  We  heartily  enjoyed 
them.  Our  cook  told  us  her  name,  and  also 
some  of  her  life  history. 

He  said  she  certainly  would  not  take  any 
pay  for  what  she  had  brought  us,  because  that 
was  only  one  of  the  many  ways  that  she  had 
with  which  she  rejoiced  the  hearts  of  all  who 
met  her.  However,  I  called  upon  her,  and 
happily  having  some  little  household  neces- 
saries with  me  which  could  be  spared  from 
our  outfit,  I  prevailed  upon  her  to  take  them, 
and  then  she  asked  me  to  sit  down  and  tell  her 


THREE  NOTABLE  WOMEN    283 

the  news  of  the  outside  world.  What  1  had 
to  narrate  was  made  as  brief  as  possible,  so 
that  I  might  learn  from  her  own  lips  the  story 
of  her  experience  in  this  far-ofif  region.  She 
was  the  only  white  woman  to  be  found  within 
a  radius  of  forty-five  miles. 

Formerly  this  settlement  had  been  the  scene 
of  a  gold-mine  rush,  and  there  are  many  empty 
cabins  still  standing  to  attest  to  that  exciting 
time.  At  the  present  wa-iting  there  are  but 
four  of  the  cabins  inhabited.  This  lady  is 
the  mother  of  two  children,  a  boy  of  ten  and 
a  girl  of  six.  Her  cabin  is  large  and  roomy, 
and,  like  the  other  cabins  in  this  country,  con- 
tains but  one  room.  It  was,  however,  well 
filled  with  suitable  furniture  and  furnishings. 
The  big  stove  was  sunken  down  through  the 
floor  so  that  the  bottom  of  the  stove  would 
be  on  a  line  with  the  floor,  to  keep  the  heat 
as  close  to  the  ground  as  possible.  An  iron 
railing  around  the  stove  protected  the  chil- 
dren and  "grown-ups"  from  stumbling  against 
it.  In  a  corner  of  the  cabin  was  a  well-filled 
library,  and  this  with  two  beds  set  end  to  end 
took  up  most  of  one  side  of  the  cabin.  A 
place  for  cooking,  another  for  a  dining-table, 
another  for  cooking  utensils,  a  corner  for 
washing  clothes  and  dishes,  with  a  reservation 


284  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

for  the  entertainment  of  visitors,  completed 
the  equipment  of  the  house. 

The  woman's  husband  goes  by  the  title  of 
^'Doctor,"  although  he  doesn't  hang  out  a  sign, 
nor  does  he  pretend  to  be  a  practitioner.  Yet 
he  always  has  a  generous  stock  of  medicines 
on  hand  in  case  of  need.  He  is  a  game-war- 
den and  is  known  also  as  a  prospector.  At 
any  rate,  the  neighbors  say  that  he  is  very 
often  months  and  months  away  from  home. 
In  the  meantime,  the  wife  looks  after  the  chil- 
dren and  her  household  duties,  besides  acting 
as  the  manager  of  a  road  house  at  which  an 
occasional  traveler  may  sometimes  ask  for 
food  and  shelter.  She  does  the  cooking,  the 
washing,  and  the  sweeping  up  of  that  estab- 
lishment, and  with  all  of  this  care  and  work 
upon  her  hands,  she  is  light-hearted  and  ap- 
parently contented.  Moreover,  if  any  one 
should  be  taken  suddenly  sick,  she  would  be 
importuned  to  visit  personally  one  of  her  own 
sex,  or  to  prescribe  to  the  best  of  her  judg- 
ment from  her  husband's  medicine  case  for 
one  of  the  opposite  sex.  Asked  when  she  had 
last  visited  her  mother's  home  in  Minnesota, 
she  replied,  "Not  for  many  years,  but  I  am 
going  home  when  my  husband  returns." 
Sure  enough,  when  we  were  on  our  way  "out," 


THREE  NOTABLE  WOMEN     285 

we  saw  the  tracks  of  her  husband's  horse  and 
wagon  on  the  trail  going  back  to  bring  her. 
No  doubt  she  is  now  with  her  mother  in  the 
lovely  city  of  Minneapolis. 

One  would  think  that  this  earnest  woman 
would  be  lonely  and  that  she  would  bemoan 
the  fate  of  being  shut  up  in  a  region  where 
she  was  the  only  white  woman  within  more 
than  a  day's  journey  in  any  one  direction. 
She  seemed  to  me  to  be  particularly  pleased 
at  being  able  to  do  good  to  others.  She  had 
a  kind  and  courteous  word  for  all — for  white 
men  or  red  men,  for  white  women  or  squawks. 
She  gave  advice  graciously  and  helped  wher- 
ever she  could.  Travelers,  trappers,  and 
prospectors,  one  and  all,  sing  her  praises.  "Is 
she  not  a  heavenly  saint?  No — but  she  is  an 
earthly  paragon."  She  is  truly  one  w^ho  hath 
a  "cheerful  look,  a  pleasing  eye,  and  a  most 
noble  carriage." 

The  Indian  Woman. 

At  the  foot  of  this  lake — a  distance  by  shore 
of  forty-three  miles,  but  much  less  by  boat — 
lives  Thomas  A.  Dickson,  the  man  w^ho  acted 
as  our  head  guide.  He  is  a  w^hite  man  and  was 
born  in  Ontario,  Canada.     He  has  a  fair  edu- 


286  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

cation  and  was  for  eight  years  a  member  of 
the  Northwest  Mounted  Police — that  most 
famous  of  all  mounted  police  forces  in  the 
world.  It  goes  without  saying  that  the  man 
who  "makes  good"  in  this  crack  corps  for  that 
number  of  years  must  be  rugged  and  strong 
and  brainy  as  well.  He  is  now  in  his  prime, 
being  forty-six  years  of  age.  He  married  an 
Indian  woman  who  is  without  question  the 
handsomest  woman  of  her  race  that  I  have  yet 
seen.  She  is  an  adept  with  the  rifle,  is  skilled 
in  trapping,  in  tanning  hides,  and  in  killing 
big  game  for  use  on  her  own  table.  Her  hus- 
band is  immensely  proud  of  her,  as  he  may 
well  be.  There  were  few  days — if  any — that 
we  hunted  together,  that  he  did  not  speak  in 
high  praise  of  her  many  good  qualities. 
Being  invited  to  take  dinner  at  his  cabin,  we 
accepted  with  alacrity.  Having  listened  to 
so  many  encomiums  of  his  wife,  we  naturally 
were  curious  to  see  her.  Their  cabin  was 
built  on  the  same  lines  as  the  cabin  we  have 
previously  described  belonging  to  the  white 
lady  at  the  head  of  the  lake.  There  was  this 
difference,  however.  The  Indian  woman 
had  no  library  and  no  store  of  medicines. 
She  is  a  very  robust  woman  with  a  fine  figure, 
is  sturdy  and  strong,  and  has  a  most  pleasing 


THREE  NOTABLE  WOMEN     287 

face.  Five  children  call  her  mother;  the  eld- 
est one,  a  girl,  was  then  at  an  Episcopal  col- 
lege two  hundred  and  thirty  miles  away  from 
her  home.  The  other  four  we  found  to  be 
very  quiet  and  respectful  in  their  manners. 
She  spoke  to  them  in  the  English  tongue  in 
a  low  and  musical  voice,  and  her  orders  were 
promptly  obeyed.  The  dinner  was  prepared 
by  her  without  any  undue  hurry  or  excite- 
ment, and  the  meal  set  before  us  was  nicely 
cooked  and  deftly  served.  The  dinner  being 
finished,  I  talked  some  with  her  about  her 
hunting  exploits,  and  about  the  dressing  and 
curing  of  hides,  all  of  which  work  falls  to  her 
lot.  We  were  shown  some  caribou  hides  that 
she  had  dressed  and  tanned  herself.  The 
skins  were  beautifully  tanned,  but  they  were 
full  of  round  holes,  and  this  made  them  look 
anything  but  attractive.  She  explained  that 
the  holes  were  caused  by  the  caribou  fly. 
This  fly  appears  about  the  first  of  November. 
It  bites  and  then  burrows  into  the  caribou's 
skin  around  the  neck,  and  down  the  back. 
After  biting  and  cutting  a  tiny  hole,  the  fly 
deposits  an  egg  in  it,  which  in  due  time 
hatches  out  and  the  young  fly  proceeds  to  feed 
upon  its  most  unfortunate  foster  mother — the 
poor  caribou — until  it  is  a  full  fledged  fly, 


288  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

when  it  takes  its  departure  for  parts  unknown. 

We  were  informed  that  caribou  which  were 
killed  before  the  month  of  November  would 
be  free  from  fly  bites,  and  therefore  the  tanned 
hides  would  be  more  attractive. 

I  was  the  recipient  at  the  hands  of  this  fair 
woman  of  a  beautiful  pair  of  caribou-hide 
mittens,  resplendent  with  beads  and  highly 
colored  embroidery;  also  of  a  large  bow  with 
several  arrows,  the  points  of  the  arrows  being 
made  of  pure  native  copper. 

The  husband  having  stepped  out  of  the 
cabin  for  a  few  minutes  I  took  the  opportunity 
to  compliment  her  upon  her  cooking;  also 
upon  the  respectful  and  courteous  behaviour 
of  her  children,  and  their  very  healthy  and 
robust  appearance.  As  in  case  of  illness  the 
nearest  doctor  would  be  nearly  two  hundred 
miles  away,  and  to  send  out  a  messenger  and 
bring  the  doctor  back  with  him  would  take 
about  eighteen  days  if  the  going  was  good,  I 
asked  the  woman  what  she  did  when  the  chil- 
dren got  sick. 

''They  never  get  sick,"  she  answered. 

'What,  were  they  never  sick?" 

"No,  they  have  never  been  sick." 

"What  about  you  yourself?" 

"I  have  never  been  sick  in  my  life." 


THREE  NOTABLE  WOMEN     289 

"But  what  do  you  do  when  the  babies 
come?" 

"I  bring  them  myself." 

''Had  you  no  woman  to  come  in  and  help 
you?" 

"No,  I  bring  them  myself, — all  alone." 

The  husband  corroborated  this  statement, 
and  he  also  said  that  he  w^as  away  trapping 
when  the  last  two  children  had  been  born, 
some  three  weeks  having  expired  before  he 
arrived  home  to  welcome  the  last  baby.  At 
that  time  the  cold  was  intense,  the  thermometer 
registering  nearly  sixty  degrees  below  zero 
when  the  child  came  into  the  world,  so  that 
his  wife  was  compelled  to  keep  the  fire  going 
in  the  stove  so  that  the  other  children  as  well 
as  the  new-born  one  and  herself  w^ould  be 
saved  from  freezing. 

The  calm  confidence  that  this  woman  pos- 
sessed as  to  the  future  health  of  herself  and 
her  children  was  surely  inspiring. 

Most  of  the  men  in  this  territory  give  un- 
stinted praise  to  the  Indian  women  for  their 
extreme  care  of  and  their  great  affection  for 
their  children.  The  Chief  often  entertained 
me  by  accounts  of  his  wife's  great  love  for 
their  offspring.  He  would  also  interest  me  by 
stories  of  his  wife's  skill  in  shooting  the  moun- 


290  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

tain  sheep,  the  caribou,  or  the  moose,  and  of 
her  ability  to  trap  fish  and  to  shoot  wild  geese. 
When  the  snow  was  deep  and  he  couldn't 
cover  all  of  his  trapping  lines  within  a  reason- 
able time,  she  would  take  her  husky  dogs  and 
the  sled,  and  cover  one  of  his  trapping  lines 
nearest  the  cabin,  say  a  distance  of  nine  miles 
out  and  nine  miles  back,  thus  making  eighteen 
miles  in  all.  She  would  then  take  out  of  the 
traps  whatever  animals  might  be  caught  in 
them,  re-set  and  bait  the  traps,  bring  the  cap- 
tured carcases  home  on  the  sled,  and  promptly 
skin  and  cure  their  hides. 

Our  other  guide,  who  is  a  well-read  white 
man,  a  native  of  Montana,  also  married  an  In- 
dian woman,  but  we  did  not  see  her.  On 
being  asked  ivhy  he  had  married  a  squaw,  he 
said:  "For  many  reasons  the  Indian  woman  is 
better  than  the  white  woman."  Some  of  the 
reasons  he  gave  were  quite  startling.  Now 
listen,  you  marriageable  girls,  and  hear  what 
this  man  has  to  say  in  favor  of  the  Indian 
wife. 

"My  wife  doesn't  wear  corsets,  and  there- 
fore her  body  isn't  crushed  and  bent  out  of  its 
natural  shape.  Neither  does  she  wear  high- 
heeled  and  small-toed  shoes.  The  coming 
and  going  of   fashions   do   not  interest  her, 


THREE  NOTABLE  WOMEN     291 

neither  does  she  run  to  the  stores  to  see  the 
latest  styles  in  hats.  She  is  always  well,  and 
so  are  our  children,  and  thus  we  have  no  need 
of  a  doctor.  Her  three  children  she  brought 
into  the  world  by  herself.  My  wife  doesn't 
want  to  go  out  to  play  five  hundred,  bridge- 
whist,  or  euchre,  neither  does  she  gossip  her 
time  away  with  other  women.  She  attends  to 
her  housework,  and  takes  great  care  in  the 
training  of  her  children.  This,  together  w^ith 
the  out-of-doors  work  that  she  has  to  do,  takes 
up  all  of  her  time.  Last  of  all,  the  Indian 
woman  can  be  trusted  better  than  the  white 


woman." 


We  have  already  remarked  upon  the  fact 
of  there  being  so  few  married  men  in  this 
country.  This  condition  of  things  is  due  to 
there  being  so  few  marriageable  young  women 
in  the  territory.  It  takes  a  long  time  and  a 
lot  of  money  to  go  out  to  the  States  or  to  Brit- 
ish Columbia  to  hunt  up  a  wife,  and  so  the 
men  doggedly  jog  on,  week  after  week  and 
month  after  month,  until  the  time  comes 
when  they  must  go  out  to  White  Horse  to 
bring  in  supplies  for  the  winter.  There  they 
will  see  more  or  less  of  the  fair  sex,  but  ac- 
cording to  what  several  of  the  men  have  told 
me,    there   are   but   few   marriageable  young 


292  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

women  in  the  town,  which  at  best  contains  but 
about  five  hundred  souls  during  the  summer 
months  and  three  hundred  in  winter.  This 
marriageless  condition  of  the  majority  of  the 
men  in  the  territory  is  producing  the  inevit- 
able result  of  driving  a  number  of  them  into 
a  morbid  condition,  which  after  gradually  be- 
coming more  and  more  pronounced  some- 
times ends  in  insanity.  Four  men  were  taken 
out  to  an  asylum  for  the  insane  from  this  cause 
the  very  week  that  we  went  in. 

Now  to  return  to  our  Indian  heroine.  She 
wore  "no  beauteous  scarfs"  or  other  fashion- 
able finery,  but  she  was  neatly  and  plainly 
dressed  in  a  becoming  black  gown.  Her  feet 
were  incased  in  well-fitting  leather  shoes  with 
common  sense  heels.  Her  hair  was  nicely 
and  naturally  done  up,  and  it  was  clear  of 
*'rats"  as  far  as  we  could  judge.  Moreover, 
her  house  was  clean  and  showed  the  earmarks 
of  an  energetic  housewife. 

Now,  good  reader,  do  you  not  think  I  do 
right  in  giving  this  good  woman  a  strong 
mead  of  praise,  even  if  she  is  the  daughter  of 
Indian  parents?  Don't  you  now  realize  why 
her  husband  is  so  proud  of  her  as  to  have  her 
in  mind  every  spare  minute  during  his  en- 
forced absence  from  her?     This  red  woman, 


THREE  NOTABLE  WOMEN     293 

like  "Laughing  Water"  in  Longfellow's  poem 
of  ''Hiawatha,"  has  to  endure 

"The  long  and  dreary  winter, 
The  cold  and  cruel  winter; 
Ever  thicker,   thicker,  thicker, 
Froze  the  ice  on  lake  and  river; 
Ever  deeper,  deeper,  deeper, 
Fell  the  snow  on  all  the  landscape." 

Yet  she  is  ever  busy,  ever  cheerful,  with  her 
hands  and  mind  both  at  work  to  help  her  chil- 
dren and  her  husband.  Well  may  the  men 
of  Kluana  Lake  sing  her  praises. 

The  Business  Woman. 

Some  time  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year 
1897,  a  man  died  in  the  far  West,  leaving  a 
wife  and  three  young  sons.  After  the  funeral, 
a  revelation  came  to  the  sorely  stricken  wife 
when  she  found  that  no  money  of  any  moment 
was  left  her,  but  that  mortgages  aggregating 
thirteen  thousand  dollars  covered  the  property 
that  was  now  hers  by  reason  of  her  husband's 
death.  The  interest  was  due  and  she  had  not 
enough  money  to  meet  it.  Besides  this,  five 
horses  were  left  as  an  additional  asset  to 
augment  her  troubles,  for  there  was  no  work 
for  the  horses  and  they  had  to  be  fed. 


294  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

The  bereft  widow  was  a  tall,  well-built, 
fine-looking  woman  who  was — and  is  even 
now — possessed  of  a  rugged  constitution,  and 
best  of  all  she  has  a  stout  heart.  For  several 
weeks  after  her  husband's  death  she  was  in  a 
dazed  condition  hardly  knowing  which  way 
to  turn.     She  might  well  say: 

"My  mind  is  troubled,  like  a  fountain  stirred, 
And  I  myself  see  not  the  bottom  of  it." 

One  day  a  neighboring  woman  came  to 
make  a  visit  of  condolence  to  the  widow. 
After  a  mutual  interchange  of  opinions  as  to 
what  might  be  done  to  bring  some  revenue 
into  the  family's  coffers,  the  visitor  ventured 
a  suggestion.  It  was  a  startling  one  at  first 
thought,  but  the  more  it  was  considered  the 
better  it  looked.  It  was  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  this:  that  the  widow,  being  of  an  un- 
usually strong  and  robust  build,  should  make 
a  journey  to  a  far-off  place  in  Alaska  called 
Skagway — a  town  over  a  thousand  miles  from 
where  she  lived — and  there  see  if  money  could 
not  be  made  by  working  at  something,  but 
what  that  "something"  might  be,  time  alone 
could  tell. 

The  suggestion,  although  laughed  at  when 
first  made,  took  hold  of  the  widow's  imagina- 


THREE  NOTABLE  WOMEN     295 

tion  so  firmly  that  she  raised  the  money  to  pay 
for  the  long  journey,  and  oflf  she  started  full  of 
hope  and  yet  equally  full  of  uncertainty. 

Arriving  at  Skagway,  which  is  the  door- 
way to  the  Upper  Yukon,  her  eyes  beheld  a 
sight  that  will  stay  within  her  recollections  as 
long  as  she  lives.  Here  were  thousands  of 
men  outfitting  at  this  noted  town  for  a  hard 
and  hazardous  trip  on  foot  over  the  Chilkoot 
Pass,  and  thence  to  White  Horse  where  they 
could  take  boat  or  raft  down  to  Dawson, 
nearly  four  hundred  miles  distant,  where  the 
great  gold-mining  craze  was  then  in  full 
swing. 

It  should  be  known  that  Skagway  is  at  the 
end  of  the  famous  interior  waterway  which 
stretches  from  Seattle  and  Vancouver  to  this 
far-famed  town.  And  here  came  many  men. 
There  were  old-time  prospectors ;  youths  look- 
ing for  excitement,  adventure,  and  experi- 
ences; the  poor  man  hoping  against  hope  that 
luck  might  now  come  to  him;  the  strong  man 
and  the  weakling;  merchants,  and  men  who 
were  willing  to  act  as  pack-horses  for  the  good 
wages  that  were  being  paid.  All,  every  one 
of  them,  had  to  pay  tribute  in  some  way  to  the 
town  of  Skagway. 

There  was  a  trail  of  eighteen  miles  before 


296  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

the  hard  climb  up  to,  and  through,  the  pass 
began. 

Our  heroine,  the  widow,  soon  saw  where 
she  could  win  out.  She  sent  for  her  boys,  for 
the  five  horses,  and  for  a  strong,  serviceable 
four-horse  wagon  and  harness.  Her  plan  was 
a  simple  one.  She  would  haul  supplies  at  the 
rate  of  two  and  a  half  cents  per  pound,  to  the 
foot  of  the  mountain  eighteen  miles  away, 
where  the  climb  over  the  pass  had  to  start. 
She  had  been  promised  all  the  freight  that  she 
could  haul.  In  due  course  of  time  the  boys, 
the  wagon,  and  the  five  horses  arrived.  It 
did  not  take  her  long  to  get  loaded  up  with  all 
that  the  wagon  could  hold,  and  at  4.30  A.  M. 
the  next  morning  she  mounted  the  driver's  seat 
herself,  cracked  the  whip,  and  off  she  drove 
amid  the  cheers  of  the  populace  and  of  the 
would-be  miners.  This  program  she  con- 
tinued day  after  day  as  long  as  the  hegira 
lasted.  In  order  to  make  time  and  save  her 
horses,  she  was  compelled  to  be  up  at  3.30 
every  morning  to  see  that  the  horses  were 
well  fed  and  curried.  Her  boys  helped  her 
eagerly;  but  she  was  the  driver,  she  was  the 
contractor,  she  was  the  wage-winner  for  the 
family.  As  long  as  there  were  supplies  to 
haul,  she  never  failed  to  take  up  her  load,  rain 


THREE  NOTABLE  WOMEN     297 

or  shine,  through  that  dreary  and  weary  haul 
of  eighteen  miles. 

She  told  me  with  her  own  lips  that  she 
averaged  a  clear  profit  of  $25.00  per  day  while 
the  excitement  continued,  and  this  profit  en- 
abled her  to  pay  off  a  large  part  of  the  mort- 
gage on  her  home. 

When  the  summer  season  waned  and  a 
touch  of  winter  came,  the  rush  dwindled 
away,  and  the  brave-hearted  woman  had  to 
look  out  for  something  else  to  keep  the  pot 
boiling,  for  both  she  and  her  boys  had  to  live. 

A  restaurant  was  the  next  venture,  and, 
while  attending  to  that,  a  man  who  had  built 
a  new  and  then  modern  hotel  in  Skagway 
called  upon  her  and  asked  her  to  manage  it. 
She  told  him  that  she  had  no  money  to  risk  in 
renting  a  big  hotel,  neither  did  she  have  the 
necessary  experience  to  run  it.  The  man  in- 
sisted that  she  should  go  with  him  and  look 
it  over,  and  he  would  take  care  of  getting  the 
guests  to  fill  it.  The  building  and  its  appoint- 
ments were  carefully  examined  and  approved. 
It  turned  out  that  the  owner  had  already  can- 
vassed the  families  who  were  living  in  Skag- 
way and  who  were  anxious  to  live  in  an  up- 
to-date  and  modern  hotel  and  had  secured 
enough  tenants  to  fill  the  house. 


298  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

Mrs,  Harriet  Pullen — that's  the  name  of 
this  heroine — at  once  leased  it,  and  she  has 
been  successful  in  it  ever  since.  With  pride 
she  showed  me  through  every  room  in  the 
hotel,  including  the  kitchen.  I  hardly  need 
say  that  everything  was  as  clean  and  as  bright 
as  human  hands  could  make  it.  Nor  need  I 
say  that  Mrs.  Pullen  is  easily  the  most  famous 
personage  in  this  section  of  Alaska — and  this 
applies  to  the  men  as  well  as  to  the  women. 

In  the  meantime  her  sons  were  growing  up. 
As  they  were  patterned  after  their  mother  as 
to  physique  and  courage,  they  also  attracted 
much  attention,  and  in  time  her  fame,  the 
story  of  her  brave  work,  and  of  her  fine  boys 
reached  the  ears  of  President  Theodore 
Roosevelt.  He,  with  his  usual  forcefulness, 
lost  no  time  in  investigating  and  confirming 
the  tales  that  had  reached  his  ears.  Then  he 
acted  without  delay.  He  sent  for  the  eldest 
son,  and  being  captivated  by  the  boy's  mod- 
esty, dignity  of  manner,  and  his  splendid 
physique,  arranged  for  his  admittance  into 
the  West  Point  Academy.  The  youth,  being 
a  born  athlete,  soon  forged  to  the  front  in 
athletics.  He  Vv'as  elected  a  member  of  the 
famous  football  team  and  later  on  became  its 
captain.     He  was  also  captain  of  the  baseball 


THREE  NOTABLE  WOMEN     299 

team.  More  than  this,  he  easily  became  one 
of  the  first  scholars  in  his  class,  and  finally 
when  he  graduated  he  did  so  with  high 
honors.  He  is  now  a  Lieutenant  in  the 
United  States  Army.  The  proud  mother 
showed  me  a  large  album  filled  with  clip- 
pings from  newspapers  throughout  the  coun- 
try commendatory  of  his  work  as  a  student 
and  as  an  athlete. 

The  second  son  was  educated  as  an  engineer 
and  he  has  also  been  successful.  He  is  fa- 
mous too,  and  an  other  album  contains  a  great 
mass  of  clippings  about  his  masterful  work  in 
college. 

When  Mrs.  Pullen  had  finished  the  story  of 
her  two  elder  sons,  she  commenced  to  talk  of 
her  ''baby  boy."  Then  her  voice  trembled 
and  the  big,  strong,  noble-hearted  woman 
broke  down  completely.  By  bits  I  learned 
that  just  one  month  to  the  day  before  my  inter- 
view with  her,  which  was  on  the  eighteenth  of 
October,  19 12,  this  young  man,  then  twenty- 
two  years  of  age,  had  been  found  dead  under 
a  wharf.  A  plank  had  been  removed  and  he 
had  apparently  fallen  through.  As  he  was  of 
exemplary  habits,  the  heart-broken  mother 
believes  that  his  fall  was  not  accidental,  but 
that  he  was  sand-bagged  and  thrown  down 


300  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

through  the  opening  made  by  the  removal  of 
the  plank,  which  was  purposely  not  replaced 
so  as  to  hide  the  frightful  crime.  The  mother 
wept  as  she  told  me  that  now,  as  her  "baby 
boy"  was  gone,  she  felt  as  if  there  was  nothing 
more  to  live  for. 

She  is  an  accomplished  horsewoman  and 
she  pleased  me  very  much  by  insisting  upon 
my  acceptance  of  a  photograph  showing  her 
mounted  upon  her  famous  horse  with  her 
equally  famous  St.  Bernard  dog  by  his  side. 

If  any  of  my  readers  should  ever  journey 
through  the  ever-changing  and  beautiful  scen- 
ery of  the  wonderful  interior  waterway  that 
reaches  up  to  and  ends  at  Skagway,  ask  any 
employe  on  board  your  steamer,  let  him  be  the 
captain  or  the  steward,  the  chief  engineer  or 
one  of  the  firemen,  a  waiter  or  a  common 
sailor,  if  he  knows  aught  of  a  Mrs.  Harriet 
Pullen,  and  the  man  whoever  he  may  be  will 
eagerly  tell  you  of  the  great  things  she  has 
done — of  her  worth — of  her  charity — of  her 
boys.  And  long  before  your  boat  ties  up  at 
the  wharf  in  Skagway  Bay,  you'll  be  as  anx- 
ious as  the  writer  was  to  see  her,  and  if  possi- 
ble to  have  the  honor  of  conversing  with  her. 

But  now  for  many  a  day  to  come  her  brave 
heart  will  be  grieving  for  her  lost  boy,  for  his 


THREE  NOTABLE  WOMEN    301 

"death  lies  on  her  like  an  untimely  frost  upon 
the  sweetest  flower  of  all  the  field."  Yet  even 
for  her  "I  see  some  sparks  of  better  hope 
which  elder  years  may  happily  bring  forth." 
To  her  I  would  say: 

"There  will  come  a  glory  in  jour  eyes, 
There  will  come  a  place  within  your  heart, 
Sitting  'neath  the  quiet  evening  skies, 
Time  will  dry  the  tear  and  dull  the  smart. 
You  will  know  that  you  have  played  your  part ! 
Yours  shall  be  the  love  that  never  dies ! 
You,  with  Heaven's  peace  within  your  heart. 

Gentle  reader,  think  of  this  brave  woman 
and  her  trials  and  her  successes,  and  you  may 
find  in  her  history  something  that  will  by  the 
force  of  example  help  you  to  be  brave,  cheer- 
ful, energetic,  kind,  and  considerate  of  others 
as  she  always  has  been. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

AN  INTERESTING  TRIO 

"Things  done  well,  and  with  a  care,  exempt  themselves 
from  fear." 

EACH  human  life  has  its  own  peculiar 
history.  The  great  majority  of  men, 
however,  pass  through  their  earthly  journey 
in  such  an  uneventful  way  that  they  may  be 
said,  when  the  end  comes,  to  have  drifted 
along  through  the  shoals  and  the  rapids  of 
life  unconcerned  and  unmindful  of  the  fact 
that  they  should  have  left  some  tangible  record 
behind  them  of  some  work  done  in  the  cause 
of  helping  humanity  or  of  uplifting  them- 
selves. 

We  had  three  men  with  us  who  deserve 
more  than  a  passing  notice.  Each  of  them 
was  gifted  with  the  ability  to  do  with  ease 
severe  and  continuous  work.  With  us  they 
were  ever  obliging,  cheerful,  and  uncom- 
plaining. 

Our  head  wrangler  is  a  man  that  in  han- 
dling his  outfit  of  horses,  numbering  in  all  fif- 


AN  INTERESTING  TRIO       303 

teen,  could  one  minute  swear  at  them  as  loudly 
as  a  Mississippi  pilot,  and  the  next  be  as  tender 
in  talking  to  his  charges  as  a  child  playing 
with  her  doll.  Listen  for  a  few  minutes  to 
the  modest  history  of  the  struggles  and  tri- 
umphs of  this  energetic  man. 

Louie  Jaquotte  was  born  in  Alsace-Lor- 
raine, once  a  province  of  France,  but  now  by 
the  Treaty  of  Paris  held  under  the  rule  of  the 
German  Empire.  He  says  that  their  German 
conquerors  are  bitterly  hated  by  the  inhabit- 
ants of  this  fertile  and  thickly  populated  prov- 
ince. Long  before  he  came  of  age  he  was 
possessed  of  a  strong  desire  to  leave  his  native 
heath,  and  so  with  many  others  he  resolved  to 
emigrate  to  the  "promised  land."  He  had 
heard  that  a  big,  silver  dollar  w^as  as  easy  to 
get  in  America  as  a  Kreutzer  is  in  Alsace. 
His  father,  when  appealed  to  for  advice,  told 
him  that  he  thought  he  was  able  to  do  for 
himself.  As  the  family  was  large,  and  the  in- 
come small,  it  was  decided  that  it  w^as  best  for 
him  to  go.  When  the  time  came  to  start,  the 
father  gave  him  his  blessing,  and  bid  him 
God-speed  to  the  land  said  to  be  full  of  gold, 
where  there  w^as  plenty  of  room  for  the  indus- 
trious youth  to  w^ork  out  his  own  destiny. 

The  boy,  like  thousands  of  others,  started 


304  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

alone  for  the  great  unknown,  equipped  with 
hope,  ambition,  youth,  health,  strength,  and  a 
good  appetite — all  of  these  attributes  being  of 
service  in  helping  him  on  to  success.  Having 
at  home  learned  the  trade  of  pastry  cook,  he 
was  not  long  in  getting  a  position  in  St.  Louis. 
From  there  he  went  to  Chicago,  next  to  Win- 
nipeg, working  a  while  in  each  city.  He 
earned  good  wages  and  saved  his  money.  He 
was  frugal  in  his  ways,  and  his  wants  were  few, 
so  he  soon  had  a  tidy  balance  in  bank.  He 
was  offered  a  fine  position  on  a  through  din- 
ing-car of  a  train-de-luxe  running  from  Chi- 
cago to  the  Pacific  Coast,  but  he  would  not 
accept  it  until  he  could  bring  out  from  Ger- 
many a  younger  brother — Eugene  by  name — ■ 
to  take  his  previous  place.  This  youth  was 
also  a  pastry  cook,  and  ten  years  younger  than 
Louie. 

Eugene  arrived  at  New  York  in  due  time. 
Before  leaving  his  home,  a  friend  had  begged 
of  him  to  look  up  a  relative  who  had  been  last 
heard  of  in  Philadelphia,  and  so  he  went  to 
the  Quaker  City  in  search  of  a  man  whom  he 
had  never  seen. 

It  is  ever  amusing  when  talking  to  foreign- 
ers in  any  of  the  old  countries  to  be  asked  if 
you  ever  met  a  nephew,  cousin,  brother,  or 


AN  INTERESTING  TRIO       305 

other  relative  of  theirs  in  America.  You  ask 
what  part  of  America.  They  say  that  they're 
not  sure,  but  they  think  he  might  be  in  Cali- 
fornia, or  in  New  York,  or  in  Philadelphia. 
They  have  no  idea  whatever  of  the  distances  in 
this  Western  Hemisphere  of  ours. 

So  Gene  started  upon  his  hunt  for  his 
countryman  in  Philadelphia.  We  will  let 
him  tell  his  own  story  in  his  own  words : 

"When  I  arrived  in  Philadelphia  I  went  to 
the  Post  Office,  but  no  record  could  be  found 
of  the  man  that  I  was  in  search  of.  Then  I 
looked  through  a  directory  of  the  city,  but  it 
contained  no  name  at  all  like  his.  Now  how 
could  a  stranger  find  another  stranger  and 
both  in  a  strange  land? 

"As  the  man  was  a  weaver,  I  hunted  up  the 
district  in  that  great  city  where  the  big  manu- 
factories are  located.  I  then  called  on  fac- 
tory after  factory,  first  finding  the  man  who 
had  the  pay-roll  under  his  charge,  and  then 
going  over  the  names  of  the  employes  with 
him.  I  asked  each  one  the  same  old  question 
— Is  my  friend  working  here? — But  a  long 
search  failed  to  find  any  trace  of  him.  Day 
after  day  went  by,  but  I  still  kept  up  the 
search  from  early  morning  until  late  at  night. 

"One  morning  I  overheard  a  baker  in  the 


3o6  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

street  talking  to  an  employe  with  an  accent 
exactly  like  that  of  our  natives  in  Alsace- 
Lorraine.  I  asked  him  if  he  knew  my  friend 
(because  the  baker  was  indeed  a  native  of 
my  country,  and  so  if  the  man  was  really 
there,  he  might  know  him).  He  said  very 
quietly,  as  if  my  hunt  for  him  amounted  to 
nothing  at  all :  'Oh,  yes,  I  know  him  well ;  but 
he's  working  now;  I'll  show  you  where  he 
boards,  and  you  can  see  him  when  he  gets  back 
from  work.'  When  night  came  I  easily  found 
him,  and  delivered  my  message.  I  spent  a 
couple  of  days  with  him  in  going  over  the 
news  of  the  home  country.  In  all  I  lost  a 
full  week,  but  I  didn't  begrudge  the  time  I 
lost  or  the  money  spent,  because  of  the  joy  it 
would  give  to  his  people  in  Alsace. 

Then  I  hastened  away  to  Winnipeg  in 
Manitoba  where  Louie,  my  brother,  was. 
We  had  a  joyful  meeting,  and  then  we  got  to 
work.  We  both  worked  hard.  We  received 
good  wages  and  saved  our  money.  We  were 
not  too  anxious  to  quit  when  the  clock  struck, 
as  most  of  the  other  men  were,  and  we  were 
always  on  hand  a  little  before  it  was  our  time 
to  go  to  work.  Both  of  us  have  cheerful  and 
willing  dispositions  to  labor  as  hard  as  we 
could  and  we  made  friends  wherever  we  went. 


AN  INTERESTING  TRIO       307 

So  time  galloped  along,  and  the  great  Klon- 
dike discovery  set  the  northwestern  country 
wild,  and  we  were  sort  of  swept  into  the  whirl- 
wind of  a  gold-mining  excitement.  We  gave 
up  our  jobs  and  started  for  the  Eldorado. 

*'We  'mushed'  it  from  Skagway  to  the  foot 
of  the  Chilkoot  Pass  and  packed  our  stuff  over 
the  divide.  Then  we  mushed  it  over  moun- 
tains and  down  canyons  until  we  reached 
White  Horse,  and  oh,  what  a  trip  it  was  to  be 
sure!  Then  we  got  a  boat  to  take  us  down 
the  Yukon  River  to  the  Klondike — the  scene 
of  the  great  rush.  We  got  employment  at 
once,  and  made  money  right  along  by  doing 
anything  that  we  could  find  to  do  that  would 
pay  us  good  wages.  We  prospered  beyond 
our  expectations.  When  the  excitement  be- 
gan to  subside,  we  bought  up  a  number  of 
horses  at  bargain  prices.  We  took  up  some 
gold  mining  claims  on  Canyon  Creek  near 
Kluana  Lake.  These  we  work  in  the  spring, 
summer,  and  winter,  and  hire  ourselves  out  in 
the  fall  to  hunting  parties — Louie  as  a  wran- 
gler or  caretaker  of  horses,  and  I  as  a  cook; 
at  the  same  time  we  rent  our  horses  out  in  the 
fall  to  do  the  pack  work.  So  we  are  prosper- 
ing finely." 

So  runs  the  story  of  the  immigrant.     Such 


3o8  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

tales  are  always  interesting  and  instructive  as 
showing  how  the  assimilation  of  foreign  races 
is  accomplished. 

The  third  member  of  the  trio  went  by  the 
name  of  Pete,  although  his  real  name  is  Ernest 
Petrel.  When  a  boy  of  fourteen  he  ran  away 
from  his  home  and  birthplace  in  Racine, 
Ohio.  After  a  wandering  experience  that 
lasted  a  year  and  a  quarter,  he  returned  to  his 
home.  Five  years  rolled  by,  and  at  twenty  he 
left  his  home  for  good,  and  now  at  forty  he 
has  passed  through  much  excitemen.t  and  en- 
joys a  great  store  of  experience. 

His  first  journey  was  to  the  Indian  Terri- 
tory, where  he  became  a  cowboy  and  a  herder 
of  cattle.  He  is  of  such  a  dark  complexion 
that  his  comrades  affectionately  call  him 
"Nigger,"  and  he  doesn't  feel  hurt  at  the  name. 
He  has  reached  the  time  of  life  when  he  be- 
lieves that  it  is  "not  good  for  man  to  be  alone." 
He's  searching  for  a  mate.  By  night  and  by 
day  he's  thinking;  first  of  the  white  woman 
and  her  city  ways,  her  refinement,  and  many 
clothes,  then  of  the  maiden  fair  of  Indian 
birth.  "She's  so  good  and  can  cook  so  well — 
so  affectionate — so  good  with  the  rifle,  and  the 
bow  and  arrow — so  handy  in  making  fires  and 
in  helping  with  the  trapping,"  he  says.     He  is 


AN  INTERESTING  TRIO       309 

indeed  beside  himself,  and  if  he  doesn't  make 
up  his  mind  soon  and  take  unto  himself  a 
wife,  his  loneliness  may  prey  upon  him  so 
hard  as  really  to  drive  him  insane.* 

"Yet  ever  in  the  far  forlorn,  by  trails  of  lone  desire, 
Yet  ever  in  the  dawn's  white  leer  of  hate; 
Yet  ever  by  the  dripping  kill,  beside  the  drowsy  fire, 

There  comes  the  fierce  heart  hunger  for  a  mate. 
There   comes  the  mad   blood   clamour   for  a   woman's 
clinging  hand. 
Love — humid  eyes — the  velvet  of  a  breast; 
And  so  I  sought  the  Bonnet  Plumes,  and  chose  from  out 
the  band 
The  girl  I  thought  the  sweetest  and  the  best." 

Now  these  three  men,  when  they  finished 
their  work  with  us  and  left  us  at  White  Horse, 
took  to  the  wilds  their  food  supply  and  other 
necessaries  for  the  winter  and  settled  down  to 
nine  months  of  hard,  slavish  work  in  the  gold 
mine  of  which  each  man  owns  a  third  interest. 
Here  they  work  in  the  frozen  ground,  thaw- 
ing it  as  they  dig  ever  deeper.  It's  a  hard 
life  and  a  lonely  one,  but  to  be  a  miner  means 
a  hard  life. 

*  Since  writing  the  above,  Pete  came  to  his  home  in  Ohio 
to  see  his  parents  and  to  hunt  a  wife,  but  the  man  who  had 
withstood  the  low  temperature  of  ihe  Yukon,  took  cold  in 
Ohio.  Pneumonia  developed  and  in  a  few  days  he  was  dead. 
Thus  passed  away  one  of  the  most  genial  and  loveable  men 
that  ever  came  to  the  Yukon. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

AN  ACCOMPLISHED  MOUNTAIN  CLIMBER 
"Being  a  woman,  I  will  plaj'  my  part." 

WHEN  we  reached  the  foot  of  the  big 
lake  on  our  way  "in,"  while  waiting 
for  the  arrival  of  the  pack  horses,  we  were 
joined  by  a  man  named  Ed  Benson,  who  had 
traveled  from  the  mouth  of  the  White  River, 
which  empties  into  the  Yukon  considerably 
above  Dawson.  He  is  a  bright  man,  a  mining 
prospector,  and  a  good  hunter.  He  is  well 
read,  and  is  an  interesting  companion. 

While  on  the  White  River  he  had  met  Miss 
Dora  Keen,  of  Philadelphia,  returning  from 
her  famous  climb  of  Mount  Blackburn  in 
Alaska.  She  was  held  up  for  some  six  weeks 
at  the  mouth  of  the  White  River  waiting  for 
a  boat  to  come  along  to  take  her  and  her  out- 
fit up  to  Dawson.  The  boat  did  not  come,  but 
a  man  did.  This  man  had  a  whip-saw,  and 
knew  not  only  how  to  use  it,  but,  when  the 
timber  was  sawed  to  the  proper  thickness, 
length,  and  breadth,  he  was  able  to  put  it  to- 
gether in  the  form  of  a  boat. 


A  MOUNTAIN  CLIMBER       311 

On  this  boat,  made  in  this  crude  way,  Miss 
Keen  and  her  party  were  able  to  make  the 
slow  and  at  times  tedious  journey  to  Dawson 
in  safety.  Since  then  I  have  met  Miss  Keen 
on  two  occasions  and  have  heard  her  lecture 
to  a  large  audience.  Her  lectures  are  interest- 
ing and  instructive,  and  as  she  has  many  very 
good  lantern  slides,  the  audience  can,  through 
their  help,  get  a  vivid  understanding  of  the 
plucky  work  she  did  when  making  her  two 
expeditions  up  this  hitherto  unclimbed  moun- 
tain. 

I  have  been  featuring  some  women  of  the 
Klondike,  and  think  it  but  right  and  fitting 
to  say  something  about  this  modest-looking, 
brave,  energetic  woman  of  Pennsylvania,  who 
in  the  years  to  come  will  be  known  as  "the  con- 
queror of  Mount  Blackburn." 

Miss  Keen  had  one  great  advantage  in  the 
fact  that  she  had  a  ripe  experience  to  help  her, 
having  scaled  some  of  the  noted  peaks  in 
Switzerland.  She  was,  therefore,  better  fit- 
ted for  her  two  ascents  of  Mount  Blackburn 
than  possibly  any  one  else  in  the  whole  of 
Alaska. 

It  is  nevertheless  remarkable  that  she,  with 
her  seven  men,  had  the  rare  courage  to  start 
alone,  determined  to  win  the  summit  of  this 


312  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

rugged  mountain,  no  matter  what  hardships 
she  had  to  endure,  nor  what  amount  of  money 
she  would  have  to  spend  in  getting  her  equip- 
ment together.  Of  the  seven  men  who  accom- 
panied her,  five  lost  their  courage  and  left  her. 
two  men  stood  by  her  until  she  was  within  500 
feet  of  the  top,  then  the  sixth  man  slunk  away, 
leaving  only  one  who  was  brave  enough  to  go 
with  her  to  the  finish.  This  man  was  G.  W. 
Handy,  a  German,  living  at  Cordova,  Alaska. 

Her  first  attempt  to  scale  the  mountain  was 
made  in  the  previous  year,  191 1.  She  under- 
took this  journey  in  August,  but  her  outfit 
being  entirely  insufficient,  she  was  compelled 
to  beat  a  retreat,  having  reached  a  height  of 
8700  feet. 

The  next  year,  on  April  22,  1912,  she  left 
civilization  at  Kennecott,  Alaska,  the  end  of 
the  Copper  River  Railway.  This  year  the 
dangers  and  hardships  were  worse  than  they 
had  been  in  the  previous  year,  but  she  had  a 
better  equipment.  Above  the  base  of  the 
mountain  all  of  the  outfit  had  to  be  carried  on 
the  men's  backs.  On  the  fourteenth  day  out, 
three  of  the  men  turned  back  and  left  her  at  a 
height  of  8700  feet,  and  six  days  later  two 
more  men,  including  the  leader,  left  her. 

The  chief  danger  after  the  last  desertion 


A  MOUNTAIN  CLIMBER      313 

was  from  sliding  avalanches  which  compelled 
the  little  party  to  abandon  their  tents  and  dig 
out  caves  in  the  snow  on  the  steep  slopes  for 
safety.  A  continuous  snow  storm  raged  for 
thirteen  days,  which  left  no  means  of  drying 
anything,  and  compelled  them  to  sleep  in  their 
wet  garments.  At  last  the  ascent  was  under- 
taken. It  took  a  week,  and  had  to  be  made 
entirely  at  night  because  of  the  soft  snow  and 
the  now  constant  avalanches,  three  of  whrch 
all  but  caught  the  party.  With  only  two  men 
left,  and  with  deep,  soft  snow  and  no  freezing 
at  night,  only  food  and  bedding  could  be  taken, 
so  they  had  to  leave  tents  and  stores  behind. 
It  was  necessary  to  depend  on  candles  to  melt 
water  for  making  soups.  The  temperature 
ranged  from  40  degrees  above  to  6  degrees 
below  zero. 

Miss  Keen's  was  the  first  mountain  climb- 
ing expedition  in  this  country  to  use  dogs  and 
snow  caves,  the  first  to  be  led  by  a  woman,  and 
the  first  to  succeed  without  Swiss  guides. 

William  Lang,  a  Canadian,  is  the  man  who 
turned  back  when  within  500  feet  of  the  peak. 
The  summit  was  reached  on  May  nineteenth, 
and  its  height  was  taken  as  16,140  feet. 

I  verily  believe  that  there  is  not  another 
woman  in  the  "wide,  wide,  world"  that  could 


314  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

be  found  who  would  be  fitted  by  reason  of  her 
physical  condition,  experience,  determination, 
and  courage  even  to  make  an  attempt  to  climb 
Mount  Blackburn,  let  alone  accomplish  it, 
without  the  help  of  some  companion  in  whom 
she  might  put  her  trust,  and  whose  society  and 
encouragement  would  give  her  additional 
mental  strength.  Miss  Dora  Keen  has  done 
what  very  few  men  could  do  and  what  none 
have  even  attempted  to  do. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE  MORAL 

"O  Lord,  that  lend'st  some  life, 
Lend  me  a  heart  replete  with  thankfulness." 

THIS  is  an  age  when  books  of  fiction  are 
the  popular  and  current  literature  of 
the  day.  Their  long-drawn-out  tales  of  un- 
requited love,  and  of  the  final  circumvention 
of  the  "hoary-headed  villain"  are  largely  fea- 
tured among  the  "six  best  sellers  of  the 
month."  The  author  believes  that  the  truth- 
ful narration  of  the  incidents  of  a  hunting 
campaign  in  a  section  of  the  north-land  that  is 
but  little  known  will  serve  to  give  the  brain  a 
rest  from  the  reading  of  novels,  and  at  the 
same  time  prove  to  be  instructive  and  interest- 
ing. He  has  endeavored  to  feature  life  in  this 
almost  fabled  section  rather  than  to  give  his 
whole  attention  to  the  stalking  and  killing  of 
game.  The  people  he  met,  their  aspirations, 
habits,  and  achievements  are  to  him  a  never- 
ending  source  of  interest. 

After  all,  real  life  is  the  one  great  thing  that 


3i6  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

finally  appeals  to  the  heart  of  every  one,  and 
makes  the  most  lasting  impression.  In  the 
language  of  David  Grayson,  "Hovi^  little  we 
know — we  who  dread  life — how  much  there 
is  in  life."  My  heart  is  "replete  with  thank- 
fulness" that  I  have  been  permitted  to  visit 
and  to  hunt  in  so  many  sections  of  this  good 
old  world  where  comparatively  few  men  have 
had  the  opportunity  to  go.  I  am  also  thank- 
ful that  so  far  I  have  always  been  permitted 
to  come  back  in  safety,  renewed  in  health  and 
strength,  and  thus  better  able  to  cope  with  the 
complex  demands  of  a  modern  business  life. 

My  writings  in  the  past  have  always  been 
addressed  to  the  man  or  men  who  can,  if  they 
want,  take  some  time  from  their  work  or  busi- 
ness to  spend  in  the  open  air,  for  their  own 
betterment  as  well  as  for  those  who  are  de- 
pendent upon  them.  The  man  who  keeps 
hirqself  in  robust,  vigorous  health  benefits  not 
only  himself  but  his  family,  and  the  people 
with  whom  he  comes  In  business  contact.  A 
feeble,  sickly  man  can  bring  no  happiness  to 
any  one,  only  worry  and  trouble. 

"He  sits  and  mopes  in  his  study  chair, 
While  others  toll  in  the  open  air. 
He  quaffs  iced  drinks  through  the  sultry  day, 
Electric  fans  on  his  person  play. 


THE  MORAL  317 

*I  feel  despondent,'  he  murmurs  low; 

'I  lack  the  vim  that  I  used  to  know ; 

My  liver's  loose,  and  my  kidneys  balk. 

And  my  knee  joints  creak  when  I  try  to  walk. 

I'll  call  Doc  Clinker  and  have  him  bring 

His  Compound  Juice  of  the  Flowers  of  Spring.'  " 

In  recent  years  the  developments  in  the 
study  and  cure  of  disease  have  been  wonder- 
ful in  extent  and  in  practical  results.  The  un- 
selfish work  of  numbers  of  scientists  who  have 
given  their  lives  to  original  research  is  to  be 
largely  credited  with  these  results.  But 
neither  in  the  past,  present,  nor  future  will 
these  investigators  ever  find  a  panacea  for  the 
business  or  professional  man  which  will  en- 
able him  to  have  a  sound  body,  a  strong  heart, 
firm  nerves,  clear,  bright  eyes,  good  digestion, 
and  a  kindly  disposition,  when  he  works  all 
day  and  every  day  at  his  office,  and  perhaps 
in  addition  burns  the  midnight  oil.  When 
this  man  does  take  a  vacation  of  a  week  or  two 
he  is  almost  sure  to  eat  heavily,  loaf  around 
a  hotel  or  on  board  ship,  and  take  no  exercise. 
His  muscles  become  feeble,  his  resistance  to 
disease  but  slight,  his  nervous  system  is  apt 
to  give  way,  and  he  becomees  irritable  and 
petulant.  He  feels  himself  that  he  is  "not 
fit."     His  family  suffers  from  his  condition. 


3i8  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

and  his  business  is  generally  affected  by  it. 
This  is  not  a  fanciful  picture,  but  one  that  is 
unfortunately  too  true,  as  the  vital  statistics 
year  after  year  inevitably  show. 

Therefore,  my  apology  for  the  writing  of 
this  book — if  one  is  needed — is  that  I  hope  by 
picturing  the  manifold  blessings  of  an  out- 
door life,  if  indulged  in  even  for  a  brief 
period  of  time,  to  stir  my  readers  to  a  realiza- 
tion of  the  truth  of  the  adage: 

"Heed  now  this  maxim,  lest  j'ou  go  astray, 
Put  not  off  till  the  morrow — work  to-day; 
And  be  you  well  assured  in  life's  great  hurry, 
That  the  hunt  will  cure  the  ills  produced  by  worry." 

The  Englishman,  F.  C.  Selous,  the  most 
famous  hunter  in  all  the  world,  has  this  to 
say  about  hunting:  "Ten  thousand  years  of 
superficial  and  unsatisfactory  civilization 
have  not  altered  the  fundamental  nature  of 
man,  and  the  successful  hunter  of  to-day  be- 
comes for  the  time  being  a  primeval  savage — 
remorseless,  triumphant,  full  of  a  wild  ex- 
ultant joy,  which  none  but  those  who  have 
lived  in  the  wilderness  and  depended  on  their 
success  as  hunters  for  their  daily  food  can 
ever  know  or  comprehend." 

The   Reverend  W.    S.    Rainsford,   who   is 


THE  MORAL  319 

noted  as  an  African  big  game  hunter,  con- 
fesses: "I  think  I  can  truthfully  say  I  have  al- 
ways enjoyed  hunting  apart  from  mere  kill- 
ing— the  distinction  is  important.  I  learned 
to  enjoy  and  value  it  for  the  knowledge  it 
gave  me  of  a  thousand  and  one  useful  things, 
and  for  the  opportunities  it  afforded  of  study- 
ing them.  On  the  great  western  plains  I 
spent  many  months  as  far  back  as  1868  when 
no  white  man  came,  and  the  whole  country 
swarmed  with  game.  I  have  hunted  in  the 
forests  of  New  Brunswick  and  on  the  barrens 
of  Nova  Scotia  and  Quebec,  and  therefore 
have  had  much  experience." 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  hunters,  the 
naturalists,  the  trappers,  and  the  missionaries 
are  the  first  men  to  open  up  the  wildernesses  of 
the  far-off  lands  where  big  game  abounds. 
The  hunter  inevitably  will  be  in  first,  followed 
by  the  trapper  and  then  by  the  naturalist;  then 
comes  the  missionary,  the  priest,  and  the 
bishop.  It  was  the  faculty  of  observation 
combined  with  the  hereditary  instinct  for  the 
open  that  gave  us  John  Burroughs,  Walt 
Whitman,  John  Muir,  and  many  other  natur- 
alists, whose  writings  and  experiences  are 
destined  to  become  classics  in  literature. 

If   you  would   follow   the   innate   instinct 


320  THE  UPPER  YUKON 

that  has  come  down  to  you  from  the  genera- 
tions of  long  ago,  and  travel  over  the  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  of  miles  that  the  writer 
has  hunted  over  in  great  areas  of  the  yet  vir- 
gin country — 

"I  think  j'ou  would  hear  the  Bull  Moose  call 

And  the  glutted  river  roar, 
And  spy  the  hosts  of  the  Caribou,  shadow  the  shining 
plain ; 
And  feel  the  pulse  of  the  silence, 
And  stand  elate  once  more 
On  the  verge  of  the  yawning  vestitudes  that  call  to  you  in 
vain." 

My  story  of  "Hunting  in  the  Upper 
Yukon"  is  finished.  I  trust  that  something 
I  have  written  will  act  as  a  spur  to  you,  who- 
ever you  may  be,  so  that  you  will  take  to  heart 
the  great  lesson  to  all  business  men — 

"All  work  and  no  play  makes  Jack  a  dull  boy." 

"What  a  piece  of  work  is  man!  how  noble 
in  reason,  how  infinite  in  faculty" ;  yet  what 
a  fool  is  he  who  neglects  the  great  and  imperi- 
tive  necessity  for  some  genuine  re-creation  at 
least  once  a  year. 


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